Locke steadied himself, suppressing his slightly excited emotions. "First, I need to refine the Memory Ointment again to see if I can replicate it."
"Second, I should add 'anti-theft mechanisms' to my Memory Ointment," Locke pondered. "According to Mentor Sophia, I can incorporate some completely useless herbs into the ointment to make it difficult for Potion Masters to decipher and distinguish the effective ingredients for an extended period."
Reverse-engineering a formula primarily involves two steps: first, identifying the exact potion ingredients, and second, understanding the precise manipulation of Magical Flames.
By adding misleading, ineffective herbs to the Memory Ointment, Locke could make it significantly harder for many Potionology Assistants to begin their analysis.
Of course, Locke could also register himself as the inventor of the Memory Ointment—along with several previously developed Magic Plants—with the White Wizard Association. However, this posed a problem: applying for a patent would require him to disclose the formula.
After all, others needed to verify its authenticity through replication.
Thus, applying for a patent generally meant making the formula public, trading practical benefits for reputation.
The Southeast Corner Domain had yet to establish a robust royalty payment system for patent usage. Even if such a system existed, it wouldn't matter much—once the formula was disclosed to the White Wizard Association, the barrier to piracy would become extremely low.
It would be all too easy for countless counterfeit versions to flood the market.
Therefore, wizards in the Southeast Corner Domain typically followed this approach: they refrained from applying for patents initially, instead using their products to generate profit directly. Only after reaching a certain level of advancement—when they no longer relied on these products—would they apply for patents and disclose their formulas.
This ensured that the formulas would be recorded by the White Wizard Association as part of the knowledge legacy, preventing them from vanishing entirely upon the inventor's death.
In contrast, the Black Wizard Society had witnessed many brilliant inventions lost forever because inventors clung to their secrets, refusing to disclose them. Once the inventor died, no matter how ingenious the invention, it would be lost to future generations.
Additionally, this led to talented individuals repeatedly reinventing the same things, severely hindering the progress of magical research in society.
Thus, Locke believed the patent system established by the White Wizard Association was quite reasonable.
Once he became a Formal Wizard, he could disclose the formulas for the Magic Plants he had discovered and the Memory Ointment, applying for patents then.
But for now, he wouldn't.
Disclosing them now would mean sacrificing potential profits, forcing him to share what was originally an exclusive market with others.
The Tiff Loron Vines sold in shops across various regions were all cultivated by local Breeders using publicly available breeding manuals—long detached from the First Circle Wizard who originally developed them.
After all, once a formula was made public, there were countless ways to obtain it while bypassing patent royalty payments.
That was why Locke had no intention of registering patents now.
Apprentice-level potions and Magic Plants simply weren't worth the effort for Formal Wizards to reverse-engineer—not only was the process extremely difficult, but even if successful, the profits would be negligible. Worse still, it would be beneath their dignity.
Secondly, it would waste their research time.
Unless there was some special purpose, they generally wouldn't bother.
As for apprentice-level wizards, faced with Locke's various anti-theft measures, they would be completely baffled for a long time and would be unlikely to crack them.
This was also the advice Sophia had given him.
Locke looked at the Palm Lotus he had taken out from the Synthetic Magic Cube. The entire flower was red, as if carved from red agate, with a crystalline luster resembling a crystal lotus.
At the same time, its petals contained violent fire elements, though they were currently stabilized by the unique Wood Element structure of the Palm Lotus, maintaining a temporary equilibrium without further instability.
This was a level 7 Palm Fire Lotus—the Crystal Palmfire Lotus.
Locke examined its description—
Level 7 synthetic item, a special variety cultivated through the combined use of the Magic Resonance Breeding Method and the Hybridization Breeding Method. Under the effect of directed mutation, the fire elements contained within this variety of Palm Fire Lotus doubled. Due to the unique phenomenon of Wood Element fiber crystallization in the Palm Fire Lotus, it could accommodate more fire elements while remaining more stable than ordinary Palm Fire Lotuses, preventing unstable explosions during transport.
The optimal resonance frequencies were a mixed Magic Pressure of 1200Hz, 100Hz, and 40Hz—Mana exchange frequencies.
The specific procedure was as follows: First, apply 1200Hz directional radiation for 10 days, then use 100Hz for one hour, followed by 40Hz for three hours. After that, apply all three magic frequencies simultaneously for directional radiation over 19 days.
After one month, the specific variety of Palm Fire Lotus could be cultivated. At this point, using the Hybridization Breeding Method to further optimize the variety would yield the Crystal Palmfire Lotus.
After reading the description, Locke suddenly had an epiphany. "Finding the optimal resonance frequency for the Magic Resonance Breeding Method is actually this complicated."
"The conceptual optimal resonance frequency for a level 7 Magic Plant is already hard to stumble upon by chance—three resonance frequencies, each with specific exposure durations. Even if some Breeders' ideas are close to the correct direction, the slightest doubt in themselves, a single misstep, would cause them to completely miss the result."
Locke pondered, "Breeders typically infer the optimal resonance frequency based on the basic characteristics of the Magic Plant and the known optimal resonance frequencies of similar Magic Plants, narrowing down the range to find it."
"But I can use the Synthetic Magic Cube to obtain the result first—the resonance frequency formula—then work backward to practice the Magic Resonance Breeding Method from scratch. After that, I can use Memory Ointment to enhance my learning efficiency." Locke thought. "This way, the day I obtain my Breeder Certificate will come much sooner than I expected."
Locke looked at the two synthetic items before him and began to plan. "First, I need to quickly cultivate ten acres of Crystal Palmfire Lotuses for mass production. Second, I should draft a general outline—though unlike a patent application, I don't need to disclose all the details, just the broad strokes."
"Then, I can enter the competition."
"After that, I can start setting up my own Pharmaceutical Room."
Though this still carried some risk of exposing the cultivation process of the Crystal Palmfire Lotus, the benefits from the competition far outweighed the risks involved.
After all, I still need to present my work, participate in competitions, and earn honors. Only those who are completely isolated from the world can fully ensure their creations don't leak manufacturing techniques.
Then I wouldn't even need to sell them anymore.
At worst, I could always develop some new synthetic Magic Plants in the future.