Lilith's Cottage. Locke opened his eyes as his consciousness returned to his current physical body.
"Sixfold Curse Barrier? What's that?"
The vampire Howard nearby showed immediate surprise upon hearing this, seemingly astonished that such terminology would come from Locke, a White Wizard.
He explained to Locke: "Master, the Sixfold Curse Barrier is a special barrier that only first-tier curse practitioners can create."
"It's a type of Foul Barrier that can corrupt all energy within its confines. For example, when a unit of Wood Element energy enters this barrier, a corresponding curse energy will bind with it. The Sixfold Curse Barrier means six different curse energies will attach themselves. This renders any White Wizard entering it incapable of casting even a single spell."
"Moreover, it prevents White Wizard magic from penetrating our Sixfold Curse Barrier."
Howard seemed to believe that since Locke had planted some sort of magic within him, he was now effectively Locke's slave. Thus he held nothing back in his explanation, no longer showing the teeth-gnashing hostility of an enemy but rather behaving like an eagerly tail-wagging dog.
Witnessing this, Locke felt a chill - the psychological impact of slavery was truly terrifying.
Locke nodded slightly. "Good, you've done well."
Howard's eyes widened dramatically, as if Locke's praise had sent him into paroxysms of excitement.
Locke questioned: "But if that's the case, the previous operation where we bombed a Curse Formula Research Institute with Crystal Palmfire Lotus shouldn't have succeeded."
"The Sixfold Curse Barrier should have rendered both Crystal Palmfire Lotus and Scorched Earth Bomb ineffective."
The vampire Howard respectfully replied: "Master, maintaining a Sixfold Curse Barrier consumes a fortune in Magic Stones daily - an astronomical sum no individual could sustain. Rumor has it that maintaining such a barrier for one month consumes Magic Stones equivalent to a medium-scale project's entire budget."
"It was only after your White Wizard strike team collectively bombed our... no, their Curse Formula Research Institute that they began maintaining the Sixfold Curse Barrier continuously."
"Reportedly, several curse research projects were completely wiped out that time, which greatly angered the Blood Curse Court's council of elders."
Howard ingratiatingly added: "Master, now it's you and I who are 'we'."
Understanding, Locke nodded, then said to the vampire: "Howard, you're quite knowledgeable about curse studies, aren't you?"
"Come with me then. There's something I need your help with, along with the Speed Painter's. Coincidentally, there are some Formulas at that location I can't decipher."
Howard was momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer joy of hearing Locke address him by name, so much so that he failed to immediately recognize that Locke was referring to one of the Blood Curse Court's Curse Formula Research Institutes.
Locke glanced at the vampire Howard trailing behind him and thought, 'The slave system is truly terrifying. This guy has completely taken me as his backer, or rather, his slave master.'
'Not only does he harbor no hatred toward me, but he is also utterly loyal, trying to win my favor with this loyalty.'
'Of course, the sincerity of his loyalty might not be that high—it's merely the loyalty any slave would show to their master.'
Locke pondered, 'We're about to infiltrate the Black Wizard territory soon. It's good to understand their logic in advance.'
'For these Black Wizards, concepts like trade, law, and contracts seem nonexistent. The strong prey on the weak, and the weak submit to the strong—that's the natural order.'
'This is likely because, in the Black Wizard territory, the strong can take everything.'
'By leveraging this logic properly, it would indeed be easy to cultivate spies within their society.'
Locke first locked Howard back into the Restraint Cage in Sophia the Witch's cultivation chamber, then headed to the Chimera Market.
Today was the day he had agreed with Angulo and Essie to recruit assistants for the third-phase trials of the Bear Spirit Emerald Bile Potion.
The academy had been pressuring him to complete the third-phase trials quickly.
At the talent market in the Chimera Market.
Angulo, Essie, and Locke each sat in a rented office space Locke had secured for 10 Magic Stones.
Locke said to Angulo and Essie, "Thanks to the support from the Healing Hand Clinic, we won't lack wizard apprentice test subjects for the Bear Spirit Emerald Bile Potion."
"Human and animal trials are manageable, but we're short on hands. We need at least four Second-Class Wizard Apprentices—two for human trials and two for animal trials—while the three of us handle the wizard apprentice trials."
"We also need to recruit a few more Second-Class Wizard Apprentices to assist with the third-phase trials."
Locke continued, "So, we plan to recruit six Second-Class Wizard Apprentices in total. This will be a joint recruitment for our team."
"What do you two think?"
Angulo smiled. "Agreed. That works best. Two Second-Class Wizard Apprentices for human trials, two for animal trials, and two to help us organize data at the Healing Hand Clinic."
"This will save all three of us a lot of time and energy."
Angulo yawned. "I've been swamped lately."
"Essie and I have rarely been involved in such a hectic project in the past ten years."
"Lately, I've had little time to sleep. The moment I open my eyes, I have to go to the clinic to monitor the physical conditions of patients using the Bear Spirit Emerald Bile Potion. The moment I close my eyes, I have to compile all the changes in those patients after taking the potion."
"Some First-Class Wizard Apprentices panic the moment they hear I've given them a new drug. They worry every day that any physical issue they experience is a side effect of the potion... No matter how much I reassure them, they refuse to believe me..."
Angulo, with dark circles under her eyes, said to Locke and Essie, "I'm almost driven mad by them. If we had two dedicated assistants, we could let them bother those assistants instead."
Essie laughed. "Angulo, you really shouldn't complain. It's just that we never had access to high-level projects and research topics before."
"That's why we had so much free time."
"Now, thanks to Locke, we finally get to join the Bear Spirit Emerald Bile Potion research team. You should be secretly thrilled."
Essie yawned and added, "In the past, projects like this would always be snatched up by the senior apprentices before we even got a chance. There's no way Angulo and I would have gotten them."
"Of course, Professor Edwin also has... relatively few high-quality projects like this. Even if he wanted to distribute them, he couldn't."
Angulo coughed. "Don't speak ill of the professor. He's quite petty—if he hears about this, he'll definitely make things difficult for you."
"If he stops allocating any research resources to you in the future, you'll be in real trouble."
Essie chuckled. "What's there to fear? Everyone in this office is one of us. No one's going to blab."
She turned to Locke. "Locke, we'll be following your lead from now on."
Angulo looked at Locke too. "Speaking of which, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but why do I feel like your Mana has already surpassed mine...?"
A look of confusion flashed in Angulo's eyes. "Ah, never mind. Geniuses like you are beyond the comprehension of us mere mortals. I'll just tag along and benefit from the project."
Locke smiled and reminded them, "The Second-Class Wizard Apprentices who want to interview are here."
Angulo and Essie immediately straightened their clothes. Before the line of Second-Class Wizard Apprentices filed in, they adopted cold, stern expressions in the office.
(End of Chapter)