905: Establishing the Aladdin Joint Shop Alliance and Operating the flying man gourd
In a corner of the spectator stands of the Golden Holy Grail, Witch Rosetta and Olaye's Second Ring Chief Designer, a male wizard wearing gold-rimmed glasses, actually appeared in the stands.
Witch Rosetta said, "I originally wanted to poach Leon Newman, the famous genius Breeder from Ancient Vine Village, to join our Olaye. I didn't expect to see such a big show here."
"Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, Great Green Leaf Dragon Finch... That fellow Locke has come up with another set of decent Magic Plant series works, just like his Great Blood Wave Air Pineapple series of pure magic plant wizard shoes."
Witch Rosetta curled her lips.
"Designer Joshua, what do you think?"
The Chief Designer beside her pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on his face.
"Ms. Rose, Locke Augustine is indeed a genius Breeder. But your level in Breeding Science may not be worse than his; it's just that you previously focused your energy on the Rainbow Cup in Yuze Marsh."
"The Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow is indeed a good flying magic plant. I heard... Silver Peach Garden recently got a new administrative director."
Witch Rosetta was stunned for a moment. Because her main body was attempting to break through to become a Star Ring Wizard, and she had to handle the affairs of three Shop Alliances simultaneously, while also preparing her application for the special grant project of the Rose Council, and she still had industries in two Colonial Worlds to establish, her energy was indeed limited, and she truly didn't know about this.
But it didn't matter.
Anyway, her partner, Wizard Joshua, would tell her much of the information.
And it was all curated information.
Wizard Joshua said, "It's Locke Augustine."
Witch Rosetta fell silent for a moment. She rarely maintained silence, but in the next moment, she laughed and said, "Interesting."
"I didn't expect to face off against him so soon. It seems fate is not fair to Locke Augustine."
Wizard Joshua said, "Silver Peach Garden is an established Magic Plant Shop Alliance, while our Olaye is just starting out. In many aspects, even in terms of reputation and the number of shops, we are inferior to Silver Peach Garden."
"However, I have already made a table of the genius Breeders from the fifteen Wizard Lands near the Eastern Border Region and converted all their abilities into indices according to a formula I developed. Anyone with an index over 1 represents high cost-effectiveness and can be invited by our Olaye Shop Alliance to become our designer."
Witch Rosetta said, "Hmm, Leon Newman's score is 1.1; it was you who recommended I invite him."
Wizard Joshua said, "Yes. I have named this method the [Data Talent Selection Method]. I can cooperate with you to verify the possibility of success for this method of mine."
"But there's one thing I must remind you: I previously miscalculated Leon Newman. Now his score is only 0.95, and his cost-effectiveness is already quite low."
Witch Rosetta looked at him in confusion.
Wizard Joshua said, "Wizard Leon Newman has a strong personality, is stubborn, and highly independent. Such an independent personality is a deduction in my calculation formula."
"Instead, I now recommend the third place. That wizard from the Black Iron Mountain Wilderness is also not bad."
"Of course, if we can invite Leon Newman to join Olaye, that would also be fine."
Wizard Joshua pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and said, "Though given his personality, he might not necessarily agree to our invitation."
Witch Rosetta crossed her legs and asked, "Within your evaluation system, what is Locke Augustine's evaluation score?"
Wizard Joshua frowned, looked at the notebook in his hand, scribbled for a short while, and then said, "0.85. The main problem is not with him, but with our Olaye Shop Alliance. Our Shop Alliance is too small to invite such a genius Breeder. Forcing a partnership would instead cause us to continuously bleed profits to maintain the cooperation with him."
Witch Rosetta raised an eyebrow.
"Fine. Then I won't ask about my score in your evaluation system. I imagine it won't be very high."
Wizard Joshua said, "Correct. It should be even lower than Locke Augustine's."
Witch Rosetta gave him an annoyed look.
"Then what is your own score?"
Wizard Joshua pushed his gold-rimmed glasses and said, "About 1.6. I am good at being a supporting player for others, which is to say, I am good at being the second-in-command."
Witch Rosetta snorted coldly and turned her head away.
"Joshua, I'm warning you. If you dare to speak so impertinently again, you will regret it."
Joshua felt a chilling malice emanating from Witch Rosetta. At the same time, he saw a flash of madness in her eyes the moment she turned away.
He immediately felt an immense pressure.
If any other wizard spoke like that, he wouldn't take it too seriously.
But if it was Rose...
Joshua swallowed hard, knowing he had just gotten carried away.
This was Witch Rosetta.
If she wanted to target someone, she would never consider the gains or losses, nor would she care if they were her ally.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the Golden Cup's spectator area.
A young wizard wearing a monocle, an exquisite silver watch on his right hand, and a hat clapped gently along with the surrounding wizards of the Golden Dynasty.
"Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow..."
"I sensed the aura of Gold Magic from that Magic Plant. It must be a Magic Plant infused with Gold Magic."
Beside him sat a blonde witch who appeared to be in her thirties, her expression cold.
"Lord Trask. Will this person become an obstacle to us?"
The young wizard's lips curled into a smile as he stretched lazily.
"Don't look at everyone as if they are a potential competitor. I am an Alchemist, and he is a Breeder. We have nothing to do with each other."
"If you view everyone as a future competitor like that, it's easy to offend people. Besides... it's just that. I was just bored and came to the Golden Cup arena to watch the excitement. Who knew it would be even more boring after watching?"
"Let's go."
"The higher-ups of the Hui Ming Borderland should still have some doubts about our path. They've clearly already bet on the [Ancient Dragon Project], yet they are still hesitating. They actually held such a competition at this critical juncture and even invited wizards from the Wind Seeker Holy Land."
"But this has little to do with us."
Wizard Trask said, "If I were a Breeder instead of an Alchemist, I would have brought out a Magic Plant even better than that flying magic plant today."
The witch hurriedly stood up and followed him.
"The first-rank officials of the Hui Ming Borderland just don't know if the [Ancient Dragon Project] can be realized. Besides, our genius class hasn't been developing as expected lately."
On the Golden Holy Grail arena, after all the matches ended, an awards ceremony was held. Locke received the trophy representing the Golden Cup championship from the Sun Ring Wizard director.
This Sun Ring Wizard held a cup of flowing honey wine that looked like gold leaf.
Amidst the envious gazes of many high-ranking officials of the Golden Dynasty, he walked toward Locke once again.
"Locke Augustine, this is our Golden Dynasty's noble potion, the [Red Gold Guard Potion]."
"The winner of any of the three Golden Cup matches can receive the [Red Gold Guard] title and enjoy glory within my Golden Dynasty."
Locke bowed to him. Before participating in this match, he already knew what the Golden Cup champion would receive—primarily honor, followed by this so-called noble title.
The three Golden Cup matches would each grant three different noble titles, but they were all at the [Guard Level].
The Golden Dynasty has four levels of nobility: Guard, Marquis, Duke, and King.
In the past, during the Golden Dynasty's peak, there were numerous Golden Kings. Nowadays, noble titles in the Hui Ming Borderland have become increasingly precious and are not easily granted to others.
Generally, the [Guard] level title is the highest granted to outsiders. To obtain the rank of Marquis, one must be a native of the Hui Ming Borderland. To obtain the rank of Duke in this era, one must possess several important bloodlines of the Golden Dynasty; otherwise, it is absolutely impossible.
Locke bowed to him.
The Sun Ring Wizard director said, "Please bow in the direction of the sun."
Locke hesitated for a moment but followed his words, bowing toward the sun of the Hui Ming Borderland. In a daze, he seemed to see the vision of a distant city within that sun once again.
Simultaneously, the liquid in the cup held by the Sun Ring Wizard director, which looked like gold leaf honey wine, rapidly decreased and then vanished without a trace.
At the same time, Locke sensed an external rank converging toward him. After checking and confirming it had no negative impact on him, he allowed this external rank to merge into his own.
Locke looked down at his feet and saw a golden circle appear on the ground.
That was the mark of the [Red Gold Guard].
The Sun Ring Wizard director said with a smile, "The Red Gold Guards were once the guard unit of the Golden City. All wizards with this title can use [Red Gold Attire] once a day for half an hour. Once used, the body and soul will be temporarily enveloped by Gold Magic, transforming into a Red Gold Body."
"Even for wizards like you who do not walk the path of Gold Magic, it provides a certain bonus. And if you are skilled in Gold Magic, using Gold Magic while in the Red Gold Attire will bring unexpected surprises."
"Young friend Augustine, you can activate the Red Gold Attire and give it a try."
Locke felt the Red Gold Guard rank in the void. Upon activation, the golden circle at his feet emitted a blazing light. The circle automatically became intricate, and then an incredibly complex wizard formation appeared beneath him. Every detail of this wizard formation seemed meticulously crafted, composed of many circles, squares, and triangles, forming a complex spell array.
Under the illumination of this wizard formation, Locke's body rapidly grew larger and taller, and he seemed to turn into a small golden giant.
The wizard robe he was wearing automatically changed into a set of golden wizard robes, with patterns of the sun and moon on the outside.
This was the uniform of the Red Gold Guard.
'I see. This Red Gold Guard Potion is definitely a Second Ring level potion, and likely not an ordinary one.'
'It not only changed my rank and gave me a rank-based ability—this rank-based ability doesn't come from a Spell Model but is like an innate ability. It's not learned but possessed from birth.'
'It can be considered an innate transcendent ability. But this is only at the level of an ordinary Second-Ring Potion; this Red Gold Guard Potion can actually trigger a heritage wizard formation to augment my body, strengthen my physical form, enhance my melee combat capabilities, and grant me a large amount of damage reduction.'
That damage immunity ability was bestowed by Gold Magic.
He had previously witnessed the results of using Gold Magic to strengthen the physical body—that was the typical characteristic of the Golden Swarm.
However, Locke thought of more.
This inheritance wizard formation entered the potion in some form, but there must be a source to provide the energy, right?
Locke subconsciously looked up at the sun in the sky. Could it be that the energy came from the Palace of Tenochtitlan mentioned by the Three-Legged Golden Bird, and that palace was truly located within the sun?
At this moment on the podium, many rank 3 and rank 4 officials looked at Locke with envy.
For these high-ranking officials of the Golden Dynasty, although they held high positions and great power, serving as deans, vice-deans, or Chief Wizard Mentors in various academies across the Golden Dynasty, those were all part of the teaching system.
To obtain a noble title in the Golden Dynasty, one basically had to achieve it through major competitions in the Hui Ming Borderland or through military merit.
But now, no major wars had occurred in the Hui Ming Borderland for a long time.
Time seemed to have forgotten this place; it was no longer the center of the Wizard Civilization, and even the primary targets of the Wizard Civilization's enemies were not here. Therefore, it was impossible for them to obtain noble titles through military merit.
That meant only someone like Locke, who became a champion of a major competition, could obtain a noble title.
But for a competition like the Golden Cup, even if they participated every year, they would just be along for the ride.
Just like in this year's Golden Cup competition, some Golden Dynasty officials participated, but the result was still nothing.
Therefore, these people all looked at Locke, who had obtained the title of Red Gold Guard, with great envy.
If nothing else, as long as they had a noble title combined with their official position, they could speak with more authority and receive more respect throughout the entire Hui Ming Borderland.
The Sun Ring Wizard director nodded slightly to Locke.
"Captain Augustine, congratulations on winning the championship of our Golden Holy Grail."
At this point, he walked toward the second-place winner, Leon Newman from Ancient Vine Village, but he only presented him with a badge and one million magic stones as prize money.
The third-place reward was only a badge and five hundred thousand magic stones.
However, these were actually just extras, because the truly valuable reward for a competition like the Golden Holy Grail was that the champions of the three competitions could obtain a [Guard] rank noble title.
Remaining in the Red Gold Body state, Locke even felt that his speed of absorbing magic energy within the Hui Ming Borderland had increased. It could be expected that during the peak period of the Hui Ming Borderland, the title of Red Gold Guard likely could increase a wizard's magic pressure growth rate.
One must know that he was a Second Ring Wizard.
Anything that could increase the magic pressure growth rate of a Second Ring Wizard was definitely a good thing.
'The Hui Ming Borderland indeed still has many good things.'
Locke remembered the invitation Alaric had extended to him after the Cloud Marsh Cup ended, as well as the teaching invitation he had received from the Golden Dynasty while in the Southeast Corner Region; it seemed that teaching invitation was issued by these Meili Ruins.
If he had come here back then, it seemed possible he could have become a rank 7 official of the Golden Dynasty by now, right?
He wondered if, at this stage, he could become a rank 6 or rank 5 official.
But thinking carefully, if he hadn't gone to Golden Crown Mountain to develop, he might not have been able to seize the Golden Cup championship and get the [Guard] rank title here today.
Locke mused, "If it weren't for the fact that the Parallel History Spell given to me by the Founding Ancestor can only be used twice, and I can't confirm whether the black and white grimoire exists in the ruins within that sun, I could even try to collect information related to the ruins in the sun to see if it meets the criteria for activating the Parallel History Spell."
To activate the Parallel History Spell, the Historical Spiritual Agility currently in his hands was sufficient.
It was just that relevant historical data and information were still needed, and the spell could only be activated if a certain quantity and quality were met.
Locke looked up at the sun in the sky.
Never mind.
He only had two chances to use it in total; if there wasn't a greater benefit, it was best not to use it.
Unless there was information from the black and white grimoire, rashly using the Parallel History Spell and wasting the opportunity given by the Founding Ancestor would be very troublesome.
After all, as long as his Archaeology level improved, he might not be unable to cast the Parallel History Spell himself in the future to explore this Hui Ming Borderland full of history and ruins.
For an Archaeology Wizard like himself, the treasures within this precious land could entirely be explored by him personally.
The award ceremony lasted for half a day. When it ended and Locke was about to leave, he was intercepted by Wizard Bruce from the Wind Seeker Holy Land of Dragonfall Land.
By this time, Locke had already deactivated the [Red Gold Attire].
Wizard Bruce walked toward Locke and said with a faint smile, "Captain Augustine, congratulations. As you wished, you have won the Golden Cup championship."
"But actually, even without winning the championship, we could still cooperate."
"This Mr. Leon Newman just reached a cooperation agreement with me."
When Wizard Leon Newman saw Locke looking at him, he immediately flinched as if reacting to a stimulus, but then stretched his neck and leaned forward slightly, putting on an expression of not wanting to lose face even though he lost the match.
Locke smiled and said, "I know. It's just that I hope Lord Bruce Sun Ring can forgive me; I currently have quite a few projects on hand, so I prefer things to be simpler."
Bruce's expression shifted slightly, and a flash of admiration appeared in his eyes.
"I know. The Augustus Wizard Shoes. I heard that despite the obstruction from many Wizard Shoes Shop Alliances, you forcibly established a brand of pure magic plant wizard shoes. I must say, your vision is indeed excellent."
"You discovered a blind spot."
Wizard Bruce said, "This is also one of the things I appreciate about Captain Augustine."
"According to our agreement, we will jointly establish a Shop Alliance. You can decide what it's called, since you are the champion. This is our contract."
"Mainly, Captain Augustine will provide the technical data and high-quality seeds for the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, while we provide the magic plant giantization technology, as well as the production and transportation links. Furthermore, our Wind Seeker Holy Land will take the initiative to help you finalize contracts. We will split the profits fifty-fifty, and we will cover the costs for magic plant giantization, transportation, and storage."
"The production cost of the adult Magic Plants for the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow will be paid by you."
"Besides that, I have another proposal."
Locke thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it Aladdin."
Wizard Bruce pondered for a moment, then smiled. "Sure, that's a good name. However, I have one more proposal. Because the slots for the Wind Seeker Holy Land to cooperate with other wizards to jointly establish a Shop Alliance are limited, I feel that Wizard Leon Newman's work, the flying man gourd, is also a very valuable piece."
"So I want him to place his work under our cooperative Shop Alliance, Aladdin flying magic plants."
"That is, give him a position as Chief Designer and include his work, the flying man gourd, as a product produced by our Aladdin flying magic plant Shop Alliance. From the net sales profit obtained, thirty percent should be allocated to you."
"That is, our Aladdin and Wizard Leon Newman will split the profits sixty-forty—we get sixty, he gets forty. And the Aladdin Shop Alliance is owned fifty-fifty by our Wind Seeker Holy Land and you. Therefore, we will split the net sales profit from the flying man gourd equally, with each of us receiving thirty percent of the total profit."
Locke had a strange expression; he didn't expect to receive such a windfall of profit out of thin air.
Locke asked cautiously, "One question, what if selling the flying man gourd results in a loss?"
Wizard Leon Newman coughed and stretched his neck.
Wizard Bruce smiled. "Captain Augustine is truly cautious. Don't worry, the reason I want it affiliated under the Aladdin Shop Alliance is also because although the flying man gourd is good, it's not good enough to establish a Shop Alliance on its own. Moreover, the slots for cooperative Shop Alliances are limited."
"But I have some other Shop Alliances on hand; if it really doesn't work out, affiliating it under another Shop Alliance would be the same."
"It's just that because Aladdin is the first flying magic plant aircraft Shop Alliance for the Wind Seeker Holy Land, I want to put similar products together, as this can lead to better sales for both products."
"If you have concerns, I don't have to do this. Mutual respect is the prerequisite for our pleasant cooperation. So no matter what opinion you have, I can accept it."
Locke nodded. "Thank you for your understanding. Then, if the flying man gourd loses money, do I have to bear the corresponding costs?"
Wizard Bruce laughed. "The material part, transportation links, and sales costs can all be borne by our Wind Seeker Holy Land. Even if it loses money, it's impossible for you to have to bear it. It's just that from a legal perspective, there indeed might be some entanglements."
Locke said, "I have a friend at the Mithril Law Firm. I can ask him to draft a contract to define our respective responsibilities and obligations regarding legal issues."
Wizard Bruce said, "That would be for the best, of course."
He didn't think much of it; the reason he was giving Locke thirty percent of the profit from the flying man gourd for free was precisely to use the Aladdin Shop Alliance to cooperate with Wizard Leon Newman.
After all, the opportunity to establish this Shop Alliance arose because of the cooperation between the Hui Ming Borderland and the Golden Holy Grail; otherwise, for an individual to obtain the qualification to co-open a Shop Alliance with the Wind Seeker Holy Land would be almost impossible.
Because of this, this shop was very special from every angle.
That was why he wanted to let the flying man gourd be sold under this Shop Alliance.
And letting Locke obtain a portion of the profit was simply unavoidable.
After all, if you use someone else's Shop Alliance, you naturally have to give them a share of the profit.
Furthermore, Aladdin was a champion brand. Being listed under this shop was extremely beneficial for the sales of the flying man gourd. Using someone else's reputation naturally required giving them corresponding benefits.
He had already explained all this clearly to Wizard Leon Newman.
'The basic stats of the flying man gourd are still too poor; if sold together with the Great Mingli Dragon Sparrow, it can actually boost the sales of both.'
Wizard Bruce thought.
The next chapter will be updated tomorrow during the day.