Chapter 841: The Crossroads Journal Headquarters and Purchasing a Void Warship

The Twilight Border, the Golden Dynasty, the Old Ruins.

This was a remarkable city, covered in gold everywhere, one of the five most important cities of the Golden Dynasty, the City of Old Ruins.

The main wizard university of the Twilight Border was the Golden Dynasty, and within the Golden Dynasty, the five great academies were led by the Old Ruins City, the Meri Ruins, and three other cities.

The Old Ruins City was said to have once been the most glorious city of the Twilight Border, possessing an incredible magical power that could only be called a miracle. Even after suffering devastating blows, the glory and wonder of ten thousand years past still flowed through the city.

Nine-tenths of the Old Ruins City's buildings were ruins, and only one-tenth had been newly constructed over the past ten thousand years.

So half the wizards who lived here resided in what remained usable of the ancient ruins, while the other half lived in the newer buildings.

But this alone was enough to prove how enormous the Old Ruins City had once been.

Ten thousand years of reconstruction had produced only one-tenth of what the surviving ruins still contained.

In the Old Ruins City, a bronze bell that had only half of its original form left sat covering a stretch of ground. Its surface was covered in rust, bearing the marks of ages past, and this was the headquarters of the journal Crossroads.

The bronze bell was as large as a small hill and was a high-grade magical artifact of unknown rank, or perhaps a void flyer. In any case, no one could say with certainty what its original function and purpose had been.

Perhaps it was nothing more than a small component of an even larger magical artifact.

But this half-bronze-bell the size of a small hill contained many rooms within, and because it was made from a large amount of rare magical metals, it was in itself an extraordinarily valuable magical resource.

So it had become the headquarters of the journal Crossroads.

At that moment, inside the ancient bronze bell covered in inscriptions of unclear meaning, in an oval-shaped office, the review editor of Myriad Phenomena Crossroads, Moon Ring Wizard Salonius, used golden magic to manipulate a stack of materials before him, making them all float above his head.

Wizard Salonius let out a cold snort.

"What is all this. The submissions received lately have been getting worse and worse."

His first glance went to a wizard's background. His second went to the wizard university they were currently affiliated with and the corresponding position held. His third went to their past submission record, such as how many journals they had published in. Only his fourth look went to the wizard's current magical rank.

After making these judgments, he would then look at the paper's argument, and only after confirming the argument held up would he go on to examine the research methodology.

Wizard Salonius was a wizard whose neck was adorned with many golden rings. He wore two golden pendants on his ears, and his eyes carried a soft, feminine quality. Though clearly a male wizard, he wore eyeliner and lipstick.

Wizard Salonius casually stamped several papers from submitters whose credentials were clearly insufficient, marking them with a golden seal of rejection.

Once marked, his students would come to collect these rejected papers, and his students would then come up with a range of reasons to formally decline them.

It made no difference to him either way.

Wizard Salonius had no desire to waste a single ounce of energy on papers that amounted to nothing, so the rejection reasons could be left to his students to handle.

"Bloodline matters must be taken seriously. Papers from wizards without a golden bloodline are not necessarily disqualified, but the threshold for passing is automatically raised by one tier."

Wizard Salonius muttered to himself.

"Then comes the wizard university. If someone has no respectable position at a proper wizard university, there is no need to read further. And the submitter's magical rank should at the very least be at the moon ring level. They should also have previously published in Tier 2 journals..."

"Sorting these out first reduces my workload."

Wizard Salonius stamped those that had not passed.

He did, however, have a safety net.

Although he personally detested reading through rubbish and had chosen this efficient method of review, mistakes at work could invite reprimands from above or draw the Academic Committee's attention.

So he would have his students, while drafting rejection reasons for these declined papers, take one more look at each paper.

If they found reason to dispute the rejection, they could bring the paper back to him.

Wizard Salonius looked at a paper floating before his eyes and paused.

"Locke Augustine? Never heard of him. There is nothing here indicating whether he has a golden bloodline. He is from outside the region, so the likelihood of him having a golden bloodline is not great."

"Golden Crown Mountain..."

Wizard Salonius thought for a moment. Golden Crown Mountain was a decent wizard university.

He could certainly read on.

But when he noticed that Locke was merely an ordinary Second Circle wizard who had only advanced to Second Circle that very year, he immediately furrowed his brow, and upon discovering that Locke had never published a single Second Circle journal paper, his eyebrow shot up.

"Hmm? Has not even completed a Second Circle grant."

"Has not even secured the special-grade grant from the Origin Academy?"

Wizard Salonius no longer had the patience to continue reading.

There was still a pile of manuscripts to review, and for some papers with experimental data he had doubts about, he would need to verify them through repeated trials.

In short, he had a great many things to attend to today, and naturally had no desire to waste time on some young nobody.

"Myriad Phenomena Crossroads is a Tier 1 journal, and someone is actually submitting to it without a single Tier 2 publication to their name. Young people are really too impatient these days, lacking in foundation. Every Second Circle wizard is a genius of some sort. Second Circle level journals are not so easy to publish in."

"You had better wait another ten years, build up some more depth, and then try submitting."

Wizard Salonius thought it over, reached out and took hold of the golden seal floating in midair, and stamped this paper with a rejection.

One hour later, Wizard Salonius had efficiently processed all of the day's submissions.

At that moment, a crystallization wizard pushed the door open and entered.

"Lord Salonius, I am here to collect the papers you rejected."

Wizard Salonius nodded at him and said, "Yes. They are on the desk. Write up some passable rejection reasons for those I declined."

This crystallization wizard looked at the stack of manuscripts before him and swallowed.

These were tasks that Wizard Salonius could handle with a casual flick of his wrist, but for him they were considerably more difficult.

After all, he was only a First Circle wizard.

But he reminded himself that this was a form of training, so he steeled himself, stepped forward, gathered up the stack of papers from the desk, gave a bow, turned, and left the office.

Once back at his workstation, this wizard sorted through the papers and began selecting the ones that seemed easiest to write rejections for.

Three hours later, he came across a submission from a wizard named Locke Augustine. He skimmed Locke's background and immediately understood why Wizard Salonius had rejected it without hesitation.

He almost immediately picked up his magical quill and began writing in the blank space of the paper, in Wizard Salonius's voice: 'Dear Wizard Locke Augustine, thank you for submitting to Myriad Phenomena Crossroads. However, Myriad Phenomena Crossroads is a Tier 1 journal with high entry requirements, and you have no record of having published in Tier 2...'

The crystallization wizard suddenly felt the urge to open the paper and see what it actually said. He skimmed the paper's argument and froze on the spot.

"This..."

"Golden Spike Wheat?"

Several wizards at their workstations in the public office inside the bronze bell glanced over at him. Some found him noisy, others found him strange.

Golden Spike Wheat was a magical plant that had been extinct for a very long time, without even a specimen remaining, once the symbol of the Twilight Border.

Still, there was no need to make a scene in a public space like the office.

This crystallization wizard quickly flipped through the paper and felt the contents making his head swim. He was clearly reading the text and was certain he was retaining it, but less than one in ten of the contents stayed in his memory.

This was one of the classic symptoms of cognitive dissonance disorder.

The crystallization wizard shot to his feet for the second time, startling the two wizards next to him, who looked at him in irritation. This was the second time he had jerked up like that.

The crystallization wizard covered his eyes with his hand.

"I have developed the symptom of seeing everything breathing in and out. This is bad. This paper is not so simple. It concerns Golden Spike Wheat. I must let Wizard Salonius look at it. Did Wizard Salonius not even read the title of this paper? Does the task of being a Tier 1 review editor for a Second Circle journal come this easily?"

"That was wrong of me. I should not speak ill of a high-circle wizard behind his back."

Carrying Locke Augustine's paper, he covered his eyes with his left hand and stumbled through the corridors inside the bronze bell toward Wizard Salonius's office.

At that moment, the colors shifting before his eyes told him that his cognitive dissonance disorder was still fairly severe.

He made it back to Wizard Salonius's office with difficulty, only to find the office door tightly shut.

In front of the office door was a simple workstation belonging to a liquefaction witch, serving as Wizard Salonius's secretary.

He looked at the witch and said, "Where has Lord Salonius gone?"

The witch swept a cold glance over this young crystallization wizard.

"Mr. Posbrous. Lord Bel Salonius had matters this afternoon and should have stepped out. If you have something to discuss with him, you can wait and contact him again in a week."

Wizard Posbrous immediately furrowed his brow.

An entire week before he could make contact.

This was the tricky part of the problem.

Because Wizard Bel Salonius had indeed instructed him to be responsible for the second review of rejected papers. This was a task given to him directly.

But this kind of task was more like a liability waiver, a way to pass blame.

If something went wrong later, Wizard Bel Salonius could bring this up and say it was Posbrous who had been derelict in his duties and caused the problem.

Because he had already authorized him to conduct the second review of papers and report any issues.

But authorization was one thing. Whether the handover was properly handled was quite another.

'Logically, I am required to send the results back within a week. That is Wizard Bel Salonius's rule. But now Wizard Bel Salonius will not be back for a week. This means that whether I send the result or not, I will be violating Wizard Bel Salonius's rules.'

Wizard Posbrous's expression shifted slightly.

In the past, papers that had been screened out by Wizard Bel Salonius's method had almost never been incorrectly eliminated.

Looking at a wizard's university, position, magical rank, and past record really was an effective way to filter out a great deal.

After all, anomalously gifted geniuses were absolutely the minority.

Most people were individuals whose trajectories could be anticipated through ordinary reasoning.

But...

Posbrous now felt that the author of the paper he was holding was precisely the kind of genius whose trajectory could not be anticipated through ordinary reasoning.

Posbrous was at a loss for what to do.

The Old Ruins City contained many forbidden zones, regions where low-circle wizards who entered had no chance of surviving.

If Wizard Bel Salonius was in one of those places, then there was no chance of finding him within the week.

Just as Wizard Posbrous was at a complete loss, his mind weighed down and muddled, making his way out through the corridor, someone suddenly called out to him.

"Posbrous. Let me see the paper in your hand."

"Of course."

Wizard Posbrous turned around, and the person who had spoken was, astonishingly, Sun Ring Wizard Flavi, the chief editor of Myriad Phenomena Crossroads.

Posbrous had been in a daze from the cognitive dissonance disorder, his mind clouded and disoriented, but strangely, after exchanging just a single word with this sun ring wizard of the Golden School, all those symptoms abated.

Wizard Flavi lightly touched his fingertip to the center of his forehead. A hidden true form of all things, that is, a special Spiritual Resonance, entered his forehead, and instantly all the symptoms of the wizard's cognitive dissonance disorder disappeared.

Wizard Posbrous respectfully handed over the paper in his hand.

Wizard Flavi was said in legend to be a reincarnated Third Circle wizard, a great alchemist who reportedly possessed special hidden knowledge of having penetrated the mysteries of Transmutation and grasped the true secrets of Spiritual Resonance.

Wizard Posbrous bowed to him and said, "Thank you, Lord Flavi. Do I need to pay for a potion treatment?"

Sun Ring Flavi said, "I did not administer any potion to you just now. I merely took the Spiritual Resonance from your own name and directed it into your soul to stabilize your cognition. Your name is also a part of Spiritual Resonance."

Wizard Posbrous stared wide-eyed, finding this utterly extraordinary.

Sun Ring Flavi said, "In this world, all things carry Spiritual Resonance."

"Spiritual Resonance is an inherent property of objects, the same as mass."

"Very well. A paper that could cause you such severe cognitive dissonance should be of decent quality."

Sun Ring Flavi looked at the paper in his hand. "You were looking for Wizard Salonius, I assume. He is a busy person. Since he is not in, I will review the manuscript on his behalf. Very young. But throughout history, heroes have always come from youth."

"Ah? This is... atavistic evolution of Golden Spike Wheat!"

Sun Ring Flavi was briefly lost in thought. He looked up in surprise at Posbrous, a note of displeasure entering his voice.

"Did Wizard Salonius even read so much as one title of this paper?"

Wizard Posbrous started to speak but held back. This matter involved his direct superior, so he found it somewhat awkward to address.

Sun Ring Flavi shook his head slightly. He had not been asking Posbrous just now, only making his own judgment.

"Had he read even the title, he would not have dared to kill this paper without notifying me first."

"Salonius's work ethic lately has really been getting worse and worse."

Sun Ring Flavi took the paper and walked briskly away.

Wizard Posbrous swallowed. He had a feeling his superior had created a very serious problem this time.

At that moment, Sun Ring Wizard Flavi brought Locke's paper back to his office and settled in to read it carefully.

"Excellent thinking, clear ideas. There appear to be multiple people's guidance behind it, but the core thinking is coherent."

Sun Ring Flavi reached the end and saw the magical plant trait test results for the mutated Golden Foxtail Grass that had been included as a supplement.

There were also spell imagery records left behind by the Illusion School.

After reading through the paper, his eyes lit up.

"The Glorious Photon plant factor? How many years has it been since I last saw this plant factor. This is Golden Spike Wheat."

Sun Ring Wizard Flavi was somewhat stirred. He immediately came to his senses and found three related wizards of the Golden Dynasty to come serve as reviewers.

His main purpose, though, was to bring them over to confirm whether this was in fact Golden Spike Wheat.

Sun Ring Wizard Flavi looked over his choices and first found two great nobles of the Golden Dynasty, then found a member of the Golden Dynasty's imperial family, a student of Throne Wizard Russell, also a sun ring wizard.

Although Golden Spike Wheat held more symbolic than practical significance for the Twilight Border, the Twilight Border had been without Golden Spike Wheat for a very long time.

This held special meaning for the Twilight Border.

Could it be that in his generation, he would be able to see that Golden Spike Wheat once again?

Sun Ring Wizard Flavi said, "Let us first have the three reviewers take a look."

"Let us see how they will evaluate this paper."

...

Golden Crown Mountain, the Blood Dragon Assembly market, inside the local branch of Otherworld Peach Garden.

The Second Circle wizard shop manager looked at Locke and said, "Wizard Augustine, what kind of void warship are you looking to purchase? What is your budget? You can also rent one."

Locke asked, "I read through a good deal of material on void warships before coming here. Could you tell me what void warships you have available and give me an introduction?"

The Second Circle wizard shop manager smiled and said, "Of course."

"Void warships are the greatest achievement of alchemy. Otherworld Peach Garden primarily works with three types of void warships. The first is the magical metal type of void warship, and the second is the magical plant type. Of course, regardless of the type, alchemy and enchantment magic are always involved. The third type is somewhat niche in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, but we do carry it. That is the biological type of void warship."

"Magical plant type void warships have generally undergone corresponding modifications, and purely magical plant or biological type void warships are rare. Oh, and purely magical plant void warships are very expensive."

Locke smiled slightly. He understood why.

What level of magical plant would it take to cross the great void on its own?

After all, a magical plant was a living being, and crossing the great void meant a living being traversing the great void.

A magical plant of that level would absolutely not be priced like an ordinary void warship.

The Second Circle wizard said, "Biological type void warships are a different matter entirely. The price may actually be lower than magical metal type void warships. Because in planes, biological entities crossing the great void is relatively more common."

"There are many reasons for this. The main one is that within planes, the concentration of ether elements, which are most important to biological entities, is relatively sparse. But within the great void, ether elements are actually more abundant than other elements."

"Compared to magical plants, ether elements are more important to animals."

"But biological type void warships have their own drawbacks. Their environmental adaptability is somewhat weaker. The void is not empty, as void viruses exist there, and being infected would be troublesome. Also, such creatures are large living beings with strong standings and wills of their own, making them difficult to handle for wizards outside the Summoning School."

"And the Summoning School in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands is... fairly ordinary. So this type of void warship is the one we have fewest of and in the lowest quality. Still, I imagine you will be looking at the magical metal type of void warship, which is the mainstream choice, followed by the magical plant type."

The Second Circle wizard led Locke to the shelves inside Otherworld Peach Garden's store. The shelves were filled with all manner of ship-like objects that resembled models.

Locke swept a glance over them and realized they were not models at all, but void warships that had been reduced in size through a transformation spell.

'If I recall correctly, in Transformation School magic, changing one's own shape is not the most difficult part. The most difficult is changing one's own volume, making oneself larger or smaller.'

'That is an extremely advanced form of transformation magic, at least Second Circle level. Which is how a full-sized void warship can be reduced to a model-like toy on a shelf.'

The Second Circle wizard shop manager picked up a sharply-angled warship from the shelf. The hull surface bore heavy magical armor plates, with a star-annihilation cannon in the middle.

"This magical ship is called the Arcane Forger. It is cast entirely from the rare magical metal Arcane Blue Iron. Look, even the observation window has received special attention."

The Second Circle wizard shop manager pointed to the observation window of the void warship's cockpit, which was transparent as glass.

"This is not made from time gold crystal. Time gold crystal is not very reliable for navigating within the great void. This is made from Number One Mana Siphon Vitreous."

"It is a special transparent magical material newly developed over in the Dragon Fall Lands."

"Reportedly some alchemists there, combining Spirit Breath studies, used Spirit Breath technology in a traditional alchemical material synthesis formation for the very first time, creating a special type of glass."

"Beyond that, the hull has a total of thirty-two layers of enchantments, forming a special enchantment spell formation array..."

Locke asked, "And the price?"

The Second Circle wizard shop manager smiled and said, "Not expensive. Eighty million magic stones. This is after all a void warship, the crystallization of magical civilization. Although it is only a Second Circle level void warship, it is composed of a large number of Second Circle, First Circle, and apprentice level magical artifacts."

"So naturally the price will be steep. In the past, void warships would easily run over a hundred million, but prices have been driven down by those few manufacturers competing with each other."

The Second Circle wizard shop manager watched Locke's expression and immediately added, "You do not have to buy new either. A second-hand one should come down to around sixty million. Though I would advise against third-hand. Third-hand void warships drop in price further to around fifty million, but generally tend to have minor issues. Adding repair costs, they may not end up being more economical than second-hand, and safety concerns would arise as well."

"Our shop only offers quality guarantees on new and second-hand void warships."

"Additionally, you can also rent. The deposit is equal to one month's rental fee, and the general daily rental rate is one ten-thousandth of the void warship's own price. Rental fees are calculated based on the first-hand market price of the void warship."

Locke gave a slight nod.

So for this eighty-million magic stone void warship, the daily rental fee if he were to rent it would be only eight thousand.

The problem was that void navigation, even near-range void navigation, was measured in months. Not to mention that slightly longer-distance void navigation was measured in years.

So for a year's rental, the fee would come to nearly two million nine hundred thousand magic stones.

If the void exploration stretched to five years, it would be considerably more expensive, with rental fees reaching around fourteen million four hundred thousand magic stones.

Locke judged that renting seemed reasonably economical only if the exploration could be kept within three years. Beyond five years, the cost grew steep.

Locke said, "Is there a somewhat more reasonable price available? Otherworld Peach Garden is Witch Yekaterina's shop, so we are among our own people."

The Second Circle wizard shop manager's smile did not waver.

"Closer kin calls for clearer accounts."

"I am a professional manager employed by the Throne. Naturally I must protect her interests and ensure they are fully safeguarded."

"However, Wizard Augustine, no need to rush. There are indeed some more cost-effective void warships in the shop."

"The Arcane Forger is mainly designed for large-scale conquest operations, hence the heavy armor and many weapons, including a star-annihilation cannon."

"Perhaps something purely for void exploration would suit you better."

The Second Circle wizard shop manager recommended three slightly less expensive magical metal type void warships: the Pioneer, the Frontrunner, and the Exploration Vanguard.

The first-hand price for all three came to roughly sixty million each.

None of these were equipped with a star-annihilation cannon, that kind of large-scale destructive weapon capable of blowing apart a comet-class plane with a single shot. Locke had no intention of using such a thing anyway, since firing that cannon would cost a fortune in magic stones every time.

Each of the three void warships had its own characteristics and distinctly unique design aesthetics.

Locke's attention settled on the Exploration Vanguard. This void warship was cast entirely from Arcane Mithril, possessing powerful magical immunity, and its surface was enchanted with an eighteen-layer enchantment spell formation array, giving it eighteen layers of shielding.

What Locke was most interested in was that this void warship had the fastest speed among all those the shop manager had recommended.

It had a total of twenty layers of enchantment formations. Eighteen were used for defense, and two were unusually dedicated exclusively to increasing the Exploration Vanguard's movement speed. The first was a void formless energy fluid enchantment, which could use the void's formless energy flowing along the warship's surface to slightly increase the Exploration Vanguard's speed.

The second was a Second Circle level powerful acceleration enchantment, which could increase the void warship's own movement speed.

The Exploration Vanguard carried no large weapon like a star-annihilation cannon, but had primarily enhanced its own speed while also having solid safety performance. At the same time, the interior of this void warship had sixteen void-class photon mayfly artillery platforms capable of bombarding the ground.

Of course, the energy consumption per minute was not small either.

From every angle, Locke was satisfied with this void warship.

After all, he was only going to a medium-scale world, not heading into a great void war. He had no need for a warship at the level of the Arcane Forger.

The Exploration Vanguard was a good fit for him. It was fast, which would save him time.

The Second Circle shop manager said, "Though by the old traditional definition, all these void warships would only be classified as destroyers."

Locke gave a slight nod.

He knew.

By the wizard world's older definitions, void warships were divided into four grades: destroyers, star cruisers, era dreadnoughts, and ruin breakers.

Of course, this was a classification system left over from the great void exploration era.

In the modern magical era, an increasing number of wizards considered this classification outdated and no longer practically functional. The modern magical era did not pay much heed to it.

But many wizards, out of historical inertia, still cared quite a bit about these grades.

'Second Circle level void warships are generally destroyers.'

Locke thought: 'A small number of sun ring level void warships could potentially be star cruisers.'

'The latter two are weapons of mass destruction. It is said that in the distant past, wizards who drove void warships into the depths of the great void and fought there once brought a catastrophe upon the great void. But later, wizards paid the necessary price and brought an end to that mad, sinful yet vibrant era, the great void exploration era.'

Locke said to the Second Circle shop manager, "The Exploration Vanguard then. I am very satisfied with it. I will rent."

The Second Circle wizard shop manager said, "Very well. You will need to provide the True Eye code for your personal civilization credit score so I can check your credit rating. A score below nine hundred means you cannot rent."

"Then you will need to provide your wizard shop alliance credentials and present this year's tax records. These are all requirements of the White Wizard Association."

"Under the Void Warship Management Act, the act of renting a void warship must be registered with the White Wizard Association's Warship Management Division."

"After that, you sign a contract with us, pay the deposit, and you can take the void warship."

The Second Circle wizard shop manager smiled and said, "We are among our own people, so naturally we would not take advantage of you."

Locke nodded.

"That is fine."

He immediately realized that in the wizard world, having a shop alliance was very likely a necessity.

Because under this system, a First Circle wizard, no matter how much money they had, could not rent something like a void warship in their own name under any circumstances.

No wonder many Second Circle wizards, even if they went bankrupt, still kept a shop alliance afloat just to maintain that status.