Chapter 840: Publishing a Second Circle Tier 1 Journal Paper

Faced with Wizard Brandy's question, Douglas braced himself.

During this period, he had been pretending to be compliant in front of Wizard Brandy, or perhaps Wizard Brandy had underestimated him so greatly that he assumed he had already achieved complete control over him.

Or perhaps he assumed Douglas would not dare resist.

Wizard Douglas swallowed, then said to both Locke and Wizard Brandy, "I... I want to go back to Group Two."

Wizard Brandy's face darkened instantly.

A calculating look flashed across his eyes.

Damn. He had originally thought this black wizard had already mentally broken down and become numb. Who would have thought he still dared to defy him, and at the critical moment, had suddenly turned against him.

Wizard Brandy weighed the situation from both sides and found he had no good reason to keep the man. If he forcibly detained him, it would be too inconsistent with the friendly, easygoing persona he had cultivated over the years.

Most critically, he had spent a considerable amount of time on this low-circle wizard without ever confirming what level that encounter of fortune actually was.

This left Wizard Brandy with little motivation to forcibly hold Douglas in front of Locke.

After deliberating, he concluded that even if Douglas returned to Group Two, he could use his advantageous position within the Origin Academy to find a way to make Douglas hand over whatever encounter he possessed.

At this moment, Locke most likely had not yet noticed anything unusual about Douglas. He was simply short of a worker to help him lately and had come to take the man back.

If he overreacted, it would alert Locke, and in the end he would very likely be in the wrong and have to return Douglas anyway.

So Wizard Brandy's expression shifted several times before he finally made his decision.

Wizard Brandy looked at Locke and said with a smile, "Since Wizard Douglas wishes to return to Group Two, I have no reason to stop him. I am not the sort of person who is petty-minded. Wizard Locke, you may take Douglas."

"This young man came to me earlier looking for work. I gave him a chance out of the kindness of my heart. Since he wants to go back to Group Two, then back he goes."

Wizard Brandy turned to Wizard Douglas with a grave expression. "However, my side is not somewhere you can come and go as you please. Once you leave, do not think about returning to Group Three."

"There are plenty of outstanding wizards eager to join Group Three."

Douglas, however, heard the subtext clearly. It meant that even if he went to Group Two, Wizard Brandy had no intention of letting him go. He would continue to come after him.

Locke gave him a glance, eager to leave. After all, the longer he spent in Brandy's company, the more opportunities the man would find to spread rumors.

Locke said, "In that case, I will take him with me."

Brandy had no choice but to dispel the barrier and let Douglas walk out, while sweeping a dark, venomous gaze over Douglas in passing.

Then Douglas followed after Locke, and the two of them turned and left Group Three's laboratory.

Locke had barely stepped out of Group Three's laboratory when, in the Origin Academy corridor, he spotted a Group Six researcher he had worked with before. That researcher greeted Locke.

"Lord Locke, good day."

He glanced at Douglas.

Locke immediately said, "This person was originally in my group. Wizard Brandy pulled him away while I was not paying attention. I have some papers to write lately and I need people, so I came to take him back."

Locke walked away quickly with Douglas.

The researcher stood there in a daze.

He could not quite wrap his mind around why Lord Locke had explained things to him so thoroughly and clearly, as though he were afraid he had not understood.

Wait...

Lord Locke said he was going to write papers.

Did that mean he was going to publish a Second Circle paper?

This researcher was a local wizard whose family included a Second Circle wizard, and he had heard a fair amount through word of mouth about how difficult Second Circle journals were to publish in.

'Lord Locke has been a Second Circle wizard for less than a year. Could it be that he is already about to publish his first paper?'

The researcher turned his head and gave a start. He immediately bowed to Wizard Brandy.

But he covertly gave Wizard Brandy a puzzled sideways look.

Strange.

Wizard Brandy was usually quite a pleasant person, getting along easily even with low-circle wizards like themselves. How was his expression so dreadful today? Was he in a very bad mood?

Wizard Brandy looked in the direction Locke had gone, his eyes deep and unreadable.

"Locke Augustine..."

Locke's actions had left him no opening to go out and spread rumors.

Wizard Brandy suddenly smiled and rubbed his forehead.

"Not easy to deal with, as expected. Not that fool Zhuoma."

"At least he poses little threat to me in the competition next year. After all, he has only just become a Second Circle wizard, and his foundations are limited. Ordinarily, a wizard who has just advanced from First Circle to Second Circle would have consumed all of their accumulated reserves in the process."

"The probability of him passing the internal review for the special-grade grant application next year is not high. So my main opponents remain Zhuoma, Zeno, and the others. Still, I have complete confidence in my flesh-and-blood strange tree. The Forbes World's native magical plant with a vascular bundle system resembling the human blood vessel network is truly remarkable."

...

Golden Crown Mountain, Group Two laboratory, Locke's office. Wizard Cis had arranged a private office for Locke, which was the standard perk for a Second Circle wizard.

Locke no longer had to share an office with other researchers.

Locke handed a bottle of Sacred Spring Sweet Dew potion to Douglas, then looked at him and said, "Why did you go and provoke Brandy for no reason?"

Douglas started to speak but held back. He felt a warmth he had not experienced in a long time. Having endured the cruelty of that scoundrel Brandy, he had come to understand that not everyone in white wizard society was a good person.

That fellow was deeply sinister.

Douglas sincerely bowed to Locke.

"I trust you have already seen through things. Thank you, Great Wizard Augustine."

Locke gave a slight nod.

"Why did Brandy make things difficult for you?"

Douglas's body stiffened, because he could hardly say that Wizard Brandy had noticed his abnormal advancement speed and traced it back to uncover the enormous encounter of fortune on him.

Douglas's mind raced, and then he said, "It was probably because... because I have an encounter of fortune on me."

Locke smiled in a way that was not quite a smile.

Douglas said to Locke, "Great Wizard Augustine, you saved me. So I am willing to share my encounter of fortune with you. I have an ancient magical knowledge called the Kingdom Domain that I obtained by chance."

"If you want it, I can give it to you."

"The Kingdom Domain is..."

Locke stopped him and casually used Second Circle level planar force to construct a simplified version of a Realm, which was to say the Kingdom Domain.

Douglas's eyes went wide.

"You have knowledge of how to create the Kingdom Domain... this..."

He had not expected that Locke had the magical inheritance of the Kingdom Domain from the Age of Stars.

At that moment, even Wizard King Laghemaon, who had been maintaining silence all along, suddenly cried out sharply in Douglas's mind: 'That is absolutely impossible.'

'Even I cannot create a Kingdom Domain in this era. The environment has changed. How can he possibly shape a Kingdom Domain in this age?'

'The Age of Stars has long since passed.'

Douglas was about to speak.

Locke suddenly said, "The Kingdom Domain was the foundation of the Age of Stars. Although the Age of Stars passed long ago, there are always traces that can be followed. Douglas, it is nothing remarkable that I have knowledge of the Kingdom Domain."

Douglas immediately stiffened, because Wizard King's voice had appeared in his mind, and then the Great Wizard Locke spoke before him.

The two seemed as though they were having a conversation.

And yet also seemed not to be.

So Douglas could not determine in that moment whether Locke had the ability to hear what his Wizard King teacher was saying.

Logically speaking, even Wizard Brandy had not detected the anomaly on him.

Wizard King Laghemaon suddenly spoke again in his mind: "Do not worry. He does not have the ability to hear me speak. This must simply be a coincidence. This person is no ordinary figure. Although he appears easier to deal with than Brandy, he is in fact more troublesome than Brandy."

"But rest assured. By my judgment, he is a good person."

"I warned you long ago not to change your target because of a temporary setback. You should have been patient and waited. But you could not wait anymore. You were in too much of a hurry to find a Second Circle wizard to open the secret treasure for you and make up for the deficiency in the Permanent Five Elements Reversal Defense Field on your body so you could advance to Second Circle."

"Child, you were too impatient. And so you suffered at Brandy's hands."

Wizard King Laghemaon went on to say a few more words.

"I was only being cautious, but you actually thought I had grown so old as to be useless, that an ordinary Second Circle wizard could discover my existence? I was a Wizard King once. I was a Third Circle Great Wizard of the Age of Stars!"

Locke looked at Douglas and suddenly said something that left Wizard King Laghemaon stunned and Douglas silent.

"Douglas, to my knowledge, Third Circle wizards in the Age of Stars were generally not of ordinary rank as Wizard Kings."

"I once knew a Third Circle wizard named King Otto. In the Age of Stars, a Third Circle wizard should have been capable of ruling an entire world."

Wizard King Laghemaon fell abruptly silent.

Locke glanced at Douglas.

"Give me whatever Kingdom Domain knowledge you have. Although I already have a version more suited to this age, I can take a look at it. Who knows, it might give me some new ideas."

Douglas felt somewhat afraid. He nodded at Locke and said, "Yes..."

Wizard King Laghemaon suddenly said in his mind, "This should just be a coincidence. But it shows that this person has a very deep understanding of the Age of Stars. Or perhaps he can indeed detect certain anomalies. Douglas, do not give him the version of Kingdom Domain knowledge you have."

"That was only a simplified version I crafted to suit your level of comprehension and this era. I originally thought something like that was enough to impress a Second Circle wizard of this era. Who would have thought that ordinary Second Circle wizards of this era are stronger than star ring wizards of my era?"

"Directly perceiving planar force with the naked eye... I never heard of a Second Circle wizard in my era having that ability. This seems to be a unique ability belonging only to wizards who became Second Circle through a Grand Magic. Wizards who became Second Circle through the Kingdom Domain should not have this ability."

"In any case, give him the material I am newly providing you. This is the original version of the Kingdom Domain knowledge. The second best of what I know."

At that moment, Douglas quickly said to Locke, "Great Wizard Augustine, I need to write this material down with pen and paper. This requires some ink, paper, and some time."

Locke asked, "How much time do you need?"

Douglas said, "At least a month."

Locke raised an eyebrow. "A month? Right, for you, the Kingdom Domain is high-level knowledge, and writing it down places an enormous burden on you. I do not have a month to give you. I will give you one day. After one day, you need to help me with something else."

"I have a project entering the Small Breath Cup competition that I need you to help me write up the project summary, and also assist me in writing a Second Circle level paper."

Locke looked at him.

Witch Yekaterina's task for him was to monitor Douglas without alerting him.

He did not have enough time to dedicate exclusively to monitoring him.

So Locke thought of a better solution.

As long as he had this fellow doing work for him, that was essentially the same as keeping him under indirect surveillance.

It would not get in the way of anything, and he could put him to work too.

Quite fine.

As for which Second Circle journal to submit to, Locke had already decided. He would submit to the Twilight Border's Second Circle Tier 1 journal, Myriad Phenomena Crossroads.

The Twilight Border's Crossroads had First Circle, Second Circle, and Third Circle versions. The First Circle version was Knowledge Crossroads, the Second Circle version was Myriad Phenomena Crossroads, and the Third Circle version was Era Crossroads.

Crossroads was the collective name for the three journals, and the one he intended to submit to was Myriad Phenomena Crossroads.

Because his atavistic evolution and Golden Spike Wheat, if submitted to other regions, would likely struggle to reach Tier 1 given the intense competition.

But in the Twilight Border specifically, it would in all likelihood be evaluated as Tier 1.

Precisely because of the special relationship between the Golden Spike Wheat and the Twilight Border.

Douglas swallowed. In a certain sense, he felt Locke was even more overwhelming than Wizard Brandy. This was far too demanding! He was asking him to finish in one day what would take him a month to write.

How could that possibly be done?

Was this the world of geniuses?

Douglas said uneasily, "I... this portion of knowledge is too high-level."

Locke said, "That is precisely the issue. If even writing down this knowledge is so difficult for you, then how were you able to retain all of it to begin with?"

Douglas's pupils suddenly contracted sharply.

Locke said, "Never mind, I do not like digging to the root of things. All I care about is whether you can do the work. Constantly asking about the past serves no purpose. Douglas, remember this: only your present truly has meaning for you."

"And for you, right now, all you need to do is work hard. I will be very satisfied with that."

"As for your past, I do not care."

Douglas's eyes filled with emotion.

Locke picked up a magical artifact pen from the desk, one that Wizard Cis had arranged for his office. It was apparently priced at two hundred thousand magic stones per pen, making it the standard magical quill feather pen that came with this private office.

"This crystallization-grade magical artifact quill can help you bear the pressure your level is not yet sufficient to handle when writing such knowledge."

"The Kingdom Domain is not really valid in this era to begin with, so strictly speaking, it does not count as true Second Circle level knowledge. With this magical quill, you can offload the burden on yourself, and your efficiency will naturally improve."

Douglas stared blankly at the quill in Locke's hand.

He had not expected that improving efficiency was this simple. Buying a quill worth two hundred thousand magic stones could directly solve the problem of being unable to write down Kingdom Domain knowledge.

Locke walked out of the office and glanced back at Douglas.

'Teacher was right. He does indeed have an ancient soul on him. After probing several times, I have finally confirmed this. Unfortunately, that old fellow hides himself too deeply. Even the magic dragon's heightened intuition and the three-eye bloodline's power of insight cannot catch him.'

'That old fellow does not know that Second Circle wizards have the ability to directly perceive planar force with the naked eye, and does not know that I can use the power of the three-eye bloodline to enhance that ability. He understands far too little about modern magical knowledge, which is why he fell for my calculations. He should be a Third Circle wizard from the Age of Stars.'

'Unfortunately, I can only catch fragments of what he says.'

'It is difficult to hear his complete words. And that old fellow's voice... from the fragments I have caught, while it sounds like an old man, that is likely a disguised voice.'

'His true voice may very well be nothing like that. This is normal. The identity of a Third Circle wizard in the Age of Stars is not difficult to guess at.'

'This fellow is too crafty. His full picture is hard to observe, and he appears to have a habit of constantly micro-adjusting his spell models. That means I may not be able to keep tabs on him at all times. Perhaps after some time, I may not even be able to catch fragments anymore.'

Locke thought, "No matter. I have already probed out some information on him."

"This person will be working right under my nose. There should not be any trouble."

Locke's main body began preparing to head into the void, while his clone, with the help of Douglas and Gregor, began writing a Second Circle paper for submission to Myriad Phenomena Crossroads.

One month later, Locke's main body had already recruited the full team and was now leading them to the market to select a void warship.

Old Henry could not have been happier to spend an extra half month on Golden Crown Mountain.

And so it was with Hussein as well. It was only now that Locke learned Hussein was a master of time management. He had come to Golden Crown Mountain carrying several case files, all from the Golden Crown Mountain district and its immediate vicinity.

So being at Golden Crown Mountain was, for him, the equivalent of lying low from the Pale Pilgrimage's pursuit while also conducting business. He was almost afraid Locke would set off and disrupt his deals.

Meanwhile, Locke's clone had finally obtained the original version of the Kingdom Domain materials from Douglas, and with the help of his student and Douglas, and perhaps also with the assistance of that ancient Third Circle wizard, had completed the paper in just one month.

He immediately sent that paper through the White Wizard Association's Dispatch Department, converting it into a wind of magic through the magical vortex, and submitted it to the Golden Dynasty's Myriad Phenomena Crossroads in the Twilight Border.