673: Ten Million Magic Stone Income and the Collective Wrath of the wizard shoes Shop Alliance
Locke said to Daniel, "Daniel, if you achieve any results, could you share them with me? I will pay you the corresponding licensing fees."
Wizard Daniel was stunned for a moment. Sitting on the Cloud Whale, he said, "Of course, we are friends."
"Currently, Senior Sister Julian has already helped me connect with a medium-sized Shop Alliance interested in energy. As long as someone invests money, I have hope of completing it. If there are phased results, I will proactively share them with you."
Locke nodded. "Then I wish you early success."
Daniel smiled and said, "In the Fission Wasteland Wizard Land, there is a saying: When you cannot clearly see the specific strength of a wizard at your same level, look at their seniority, and then look at the level of the friends around them."
"The level of a person's friends determines their height."
Wizard Daniel continued, "After entering Golden Crown Mountain, I truly felt that this saying makes a lot of sense. Having powerful wizard friends like you and Witch Julian around me has invisibly raised my upper limit."
Locke nodded slightly. "Though biased, it does have some truth. To each their own. A person's social relations are also the resources they can call upon. As long as one person forms an exchange with another, it's possible to mobilize that part of the resources—at least the possibility exists."
"Of course, it depends on how they are called upon. Everyone is willing to add flowers to a bouquet, but those willing to provide charcoal in the snow are truly few."
Wizard Daniel nodded in agreement, feeling deeply moved by Locke's words.
Wizard Daniel was in a good mood and snapped his fingers toward Locke. "Well then, I'm off to get busy. My Cloud Marsh Cup champion roommate."
He summoned the Cloud Whale, ordered it to land, and then headed toward the peach orchard at the summit of Little Peach Mountain, toward that Peach Gate leading to the [Gray Mist Plane].
Meanwhile, Locke also rode the Rainbow Sparrow into the Dune Plane. At that time, the sky of the Dune Plane was covered by a thin layer of gray mist.
heavy element particle pollutants, like the prototype of a new atmosphere for this Plane, shrouded the sky above.
The temperature of the entire Plane had dropped by at least 2 degrees Celsius.
Furthermore, as the heavy particle pollution gas increased, the temperature might continue to drop.
Circles of rainbows surrounded the sun in the sky, which was as large as a mountain. Those were rainbows shown by the refraction of sunlight through the heavy particle pollution gas.
Locke rode the Rainbow Sparrow directly through the high altitude of this Plane, crossing the desert, and saw the location of the Group 2 Research Institute, which was surrounded by conversion plants and natural gas wells.
At this time, outside the ecological membrane of the Group 2 Research Institute, some magic fields had already appeared.
Of course, these magic fields were basically planted and then submerged by the desert again due to temperature differences and magic tide issues.
Many golems were currently planting there.
These agricultural-type golems were highly valuable and costly. Without the resource tilting from Group 2, it would likely be impossible to conduct magic field experiments on such a scale.
In this process of the desert repeatedly swallowing the magic fields, humus and total biomass would increase on the surface of the dunes, and thus a new scene of magic fields was completed.
Locke had the Rainbow Sparrow land on the ground while walking toward the Group 2 Research Institute. "It looks quite effective. He's just too impatient. If he proceeded slowly, it would be more stable."
"That's right, he's about to finish his term. If he uses a steady method, he definitely won't be able to get any benefits, so he can only be aggressive. Moreover, if Zalan Bailey wants to get resource tilting and large amounts of capital investment, he must see results in a short time."
"And then there's the cost paradox issue," Locke said. "In ecology, overall transformation might be cheaper than local transformation. Because maintaining a local ecology requires injecting resources every moment, whereas if an overall transformation can truly be carried out, there's no need to pay huge resources to maintain a small local ecology."
"Combining all factors, for Zalan Bailey, the only way to get a special grant and have a chance to conclude a first-class project fund is to act aggressively."
Locke sighed. "He is different from me; I still have five years. And Golden Crown Mountain only allows a researcher to delay their departure a maximum of twice, for about a year each time. That means even if Zalan Bailey uses connections to delay his departure, he only has two years left."
"Without using connections, it's hard for him to stay on when he already meets the requirements to leave. Essentially, this is competing for the resources the White Wizard Association gives to young One-Ring Wizards."
"But even if he stays, two years is too short for him. For me, I have 5+2 years. So, he cannot fight steadily like I do."
Locke frowned. Since he started studying ecology, he had accumulated a lot of knowledge.
Therefore, he had already formed certain insights.
The other party's large-scale transformation was quite extreme. Ecological transformation of a Plane involves dozens of disciplines; it is fundamentally a chaotic system.
The other party disregarded natural laws and transformed at will; it's unknown if he has a foolproof plan.
Locke thought: 'For me, conducting ecological transformation focuses more on long-term interests than short-term gains.'
'I cannot cause future ecological collapse for the sake of short-term effects. The most confusing point about ecology is that short-term prosperity is not necessarily true prosperity.'
Locke recalled many cases in ecology. 'Many ecological booms are just the final radiance before a great collapse, or a reaction produced under stimulation by using massive resources and draining the pond to catch the fish.'
Locke remembered seeing in the Moon Gods Blessing Curse magic book that the most terrifying thing about ecological experiments is that the point where your experimental collapse has formed and become irreversible occurs during the peak and most prosperous period of the wizard's ecological experiment.
The complexity of ecology lies here as well.
Locke said, "So, for me, whether it's the research of Group 2 or my Great Magic, I must follow the principle of minimum modification. I must follow the original laws of nature and utilize them, rather than adding and transforming at will to make the problem more complex. But acting according to this principle makes everything move very slowly."
"Is there a way to have both?"
"My minimum modification principle has a speed bottleneck, lacks flexibility, and is hard to use against explosive dangers—that's also a deficiency."
Locke pondered, and he faintly caught the key. "To further improve my Great Magic and make the Great Magic based on the Moon Magic Mirror even more excellent, perhaps the breakthrough point is here."
He fell into deep thought, feeling as if he had grasped a certain key point. However, due to insufficient accumulation or the lack of a breakthrough, his head throbbed from thinking, yet he still couldn't follow the thought further.
"I always feel very tired," Locke sighed. "It makes my brain a bit sluggish. Of course, my current strength is more than twice my normal magic pressure of 9999."
"After entering the soul decline period, because of the cracks in my soul, my magic pressure has essentially broken through the limit of a One-Ring creature. It's stuck between the Second Ring and First Ring."
"If I don't enter this state, I have no way to participate in the competition."
"This is a gamble. If I don't achieve the proper results in the Silent Grail Competition, my losses will become very large."
The thought of the losses outweighing the gains immediately plunged Locke into a groundless fear.
The next moment, a Peach Arc Thorn Arrow appeared in his sea of consciousness. Blessed by the sacred dragon star, the Peach Arc Thorn Arrow shot an arrow into his sea of consciousness, completely wiping out that unease and baseless anxiety.
'Damn it, this weakling's mindset of worrying about gains and losses actually appeared in me.'
Locke's gaze became firm. 'No regrets once the piece is played. Since I've already made this move, why overthink whether it's worth it?'
'The cautionary tale of Great Wizard Sura is before me. Past events, whether right or wrong, are already set. If I have even half a bit of hesitation or doubt about my past choices, they will come for me when I advance to the Second Ring.'
'Without the past, there would be no current me. I have great confidence in myself, so naturally, I will not have any doubt about my past self.'
In the Group 2 public office, Locke heard Witch Mason and the other two arguing with the laboratory administrator.
When Witch Mason saw Locke, her eyes immediately lit up, and she said to him, "Group Leader, you're here."
Locke looked at Witch Mason and a staff member who was an ordinary One-Ring Wizard of Golden Crown Mountain serving as the laboratory administrator.
A portion of Golden Crown Mountain consisted of off-staff employees doing odd jobs. These people did not have a faculty relationship with Golden Crown Mountain but rather a relationship similar to that between a Shop Alliance and its own employees.
They signed labor contracts.
Naturally, the seniority requirements for this group of wizards were much lower, though even so, the requirements remained very high.
In any case, anyone who hadn't become a Official Wizard before the age of forty had no chance of entering Golden Crown Mountain.
Seeing Locke approach, this laboratory administrator at the Liquefaction Stage of the First Ring immediately showed an embarrassed expression.
Witch Freya said to Locke, "Group Leader, you've finally come. We already got approval from Group Leader Siss to use the metal telescope equipment. But this administrator delays today and delays tomorrow, saying every day that someone is using it."
Witch Freya crossed her arms and said fiercely, "What's the matter, is this discrimination against us?"
Wizard Barrett said in a low voice, "It really is too much. We are all researchers in the same group. There's no need to use these underhanded tricks."
The laboratory administrator's forehead was covered in sweat, and he hurriedly said to Locke, "Boss Augustine, please don't misunderstand. I'm not targeting you. I'm just an ordinary staff member."
"I can't afford to offend anyone."
"It's just that Wizard Zalan Bailey's research group has been borrowing the seven large metal telescopes in Group 2 recently. If you don't mind, I can arrange medium-sized metal telescopes for you immediately."
Witch Freya's brows furrowed, and she immediately pointed at his nose and scolded, "We applied for large metal telescopes, and you're arranging medium-sized ones for us!"
"Individuals can afford medium-sized metal telescopes on their own!"
The laboratory administrator spread his hands to Locke and said distressedly, "Boss Augustine, it's really that Wizard Zalan Bailey's team is using the metal telescopes too frequently. We can't manage the schedule for the time being."
"I've already tried my best to prioritize equipment usage rights for you and your friends. Right now, the other researchers in Group 2 can't even get a turn to use the metal telescopes."
Locke raised his left hand, signaling the angry Witch Freya to calm down first.
Locke glanced at the laboratory administrator and said to Witch Freya, "It seems that the first-class project fund Zalan Bailey has been working on recently is also researching the energy-locking structure of Magic Plants."
"large metal telescopes are the best equipment for discovering the specific structure and characteristics of the energy-locking structure of Magic Plants."
"Our group and Zalan Bailey's group just happened to clash."
The laboratory administrator was about to respond, but Locke swept a glance over him. "While Wizard Zalan Bailey's research is important, our group's research is also important."
"Can one large metal telescope be allocated for Witch Mason and the others to use, or perhaps, for me to use personally?"
The laboratory administrator swallowed hard.
Locke was the champion of this year's Spell Fighting Competition. In the eyes of this administrator, although he wasn't a Second Ring Wizard, he wasn't far from it.
If possible, he really didn't want to offend either of them.
After all, in his eyes, Locke was only one step away from being a Second Ring Wizard; it was basically a foregone conclusion that he would be one in the future.
For someone like Locke, whether he could become a Third Ring Wizard was the only truly undecided question.
The laboratory administrator said in a low voice, "I'll discuss it with my colleagues and see if we can spare one for you..."
Witch Freya cursed, "You fawning, slippery person. I knew you still had a way. It's useless when we talk to you, isn't it? Our boss has to step in personally."
The laboratory administrator apologized immediately and then quickly left the public office.
Locke also gave a cough. "Freya, there are many outsiders here."
Witch Freya glanced around at the Group 2 researchers who were watching the scene with amusement, and her face turned slightly red.
Of course, she and Locke were already very familiar by now, so she naturally understood that Locke's reminder just now wasn't for his own face, but for her image.
After all, Witch Freya had always cared quite a bit about her image in the eyes of others.
The four of them returned to their own workstations, and Witch Freya whispered, "That administrator really is a fawner. Before that guy Zalan Bailey returned to Group 2, he was always polite to me and never dared to offend me."
"I didn't expect him to be so stubborn after Zalan Bailey came back."
Wizard Barrett said, "Actually, it's alright. What he said is also the truth; Wizard Zalan Bailey's group has squeezed out everyone's resources. We can still have a few resources left, but the others in Group 2 are already severely lacking."
Witch Mason said, "The research resources of Group 2 are all gravitating toward Wizard Zalan Bailey. It seems the water shortage crisis in Group 2 is indeed very serious."
"I didn't expect a simple lack of water to put so much pressure on Group Leader Siss."
Witch Freya took out her lipstick and applied it to her lips while using a small magic lens to adjust her makeup. "I really lost my composure just now. Fortunately, the group leader reminded me, otherwise it would have been too embarrassing."
Witch Freya said, "According to my insider information, our Group 2's problem isn't a lack of water at all. It's being subjected to an industry chain blockade by the Rose Council. I heard the Rose Council has a ten-billion-market plan, and our Group 2's previous research route touched their interests."
Witch Mason couldn't help but say, "Freya, insider information is the most untrustworthy thing. Can that be believed? Research on a Colonial Plane, a half-destroyed Plane, involves a ten-billion-market for the Rose Council?"
Locke asked, "How is the combination of my ancient flower roots and the pineapple?"
Witch Mason said, "Oh, the three of us used the Finite Element Cultivation Method plus the Grafting Cultivation Method, and we have currently succeeded in making the glandular root sac structure appear in the Great Pink Diamond Pineapple."
"We are currently growing one mu of Great Pink Diamond Pineapples in this Research Institute."
Witch Freya said, "We just need to use the large metal telescope to observe the internal structure of the glandular root sac."
"And the mechanism of action."
"Although the Three Great Magic Mirrors can assist, the most suitable equipment is still the metal telescope. Only with the Three Great Magic Mirrors plus the metal telescope, along with some other small equipment to assist in analyzing the key natural magic structural component, is it possible to obtain the complete mechanism of action for the glandular root sac."
Locke nodded. "Well done. The first-class project fund has one hundred magic crystal cards; feel free to use them. You'll be responsible for these parts. As for me, I'm going to do an analysis of the queens chessboard."
Witch Mason and the others nodded as a matter of course.
After all, Locke was about to participate in the Silent Grail, and there were less than three months left.
So the few of them could accept putting in more effort now.
Once Locke was free later, he would naturally be able to help them.
After they discussed for a while longer, Witch Freya mentioned, "By the way, Group Leader, I didn't expect this Dune Plane to actually have indigenous people still existing."
Locke showed a look of surprise. "Indigenous people? Does this Plane have high-level intelligent life?"
Mason and Barrett also looked at her in disbelief.
Witch Freya said, "Yes, I heard it while chatting with the Group 2 researchers during lunch."
"Supposedly, the Dune Plane was originally a developed life Plane with a highly advanced civilization called the Dune Civilization. The intelligent life of the Dune Civilization—the Dune People—naturally possess powerful psionic talent but lack magic talent for other schools, so they followed a mixed development model of psionic and technological routes."
"There is a bulge on the inner side of every Dune Person's palm. The bulge is filled with nerve tissue; they have a developed psionic nervous system and are natural lie detectors and soul empaths."
"I heard that when the Dune Civilization was at its peak, it was a civilization where prison culture was prevalent. Because Dune People could easily sense the evil in others' hearts and observe their actions, and because they were easily polluted by evil through psionic contact due to their psionic talent, there were many criminals."
"The Dune People imprisoned those criminals and employed those most skilled in telepathy as prison guards to watch over them."
Witch Freya said, "Of course, that's all in the past. Long ago, the Dune Plane was a life Plane rich in resources, but later this Plane was captured by the gravitational pull of the Sun Plane and entered the Sun Plane's void orbit."
"In the crisis of the entire Plane being swallowed by the sun, the Dune People's developed prison civilization was destroyed in an instant. Those telepathy masters didn't help them; instead, they transmitted their pain to the Dune People. Their civilization regressed into a cave-dwelling form, but they still survived."
Witch Mason said in surprise, "They could survive that? The maximum temperature in the desert outside is almost a hundred degrees Celsius."
"How did they do it?"
Witch Freya said, "I don't know about that. The sea of sand is vast, and finding these Dune People isn't easy. But don't doubt the resilience of life."
"Perhaps they were lucky and found some areas in this Plane where they could just barely survive."
Locke thought further, 'Dune People can still survive under such conditions? Did they master some special technology, or did something special happen?'
'I'm currently conducting ecological research. Perhaps I should find a few Dune People to learn more.'
Locke felt a surge of excitement. 'Logically speaking, those low-level animals and plants are already extinct; the Dune People shouldn't be able to survive. What exactly happened that prevented them from being wiped out by the drought and high temperatures?'
Locke felt someone summoning him and took out his lingzhi magic plant. He saw Witch Scarlett directly congratulating him, sending a message: 'Locke, congratulations. Golden Crown Mountain announced t