Chapter 842: Wizard Salonius’s Serious Work Mistake!

After the Second Circle wizard shop owner of Otherworld Peach Garden submitted the civilization credit score and shop alliance certificate, he said to Locke, who was about to sign the contract, "Wizard Locke. Let me once again confirm the details. Since this is your first time renting a void warship, and you plan to rent for one year, the rental fee comes to two million one hundred and ninety thousand magic stones, or two hundred and nineteen Magic Crystal Cards. The deposit is also two hundred and nineteen Magic Crystal Cards, so the total is four million three hundred and eighty thousand magic stones."

The minimum rental period for a void warship was half a year.

The Second Circle wizard shop owner said, "If it is returned past the deadline, the contract is automatically considered to have been extended, meaning the next year's rental contract is automatically renewed, and an additional rental fee of two million one hundred and ninety thousand magic stones must be paid."

"If the void warship is damaged through abnormal use, the corresponding amount will be deducted from the deposit. If the deposit is insufficient to fully cover the cost, you will need to pay the remaining amount afterward."

"Any questions?"

"Of course, generally speaking, if the overdue period is within two weeks, it is not considered an automatic contract renewal."

Locke nodded and said, "Understood. Let us sign the contract."

Locke wrote his name on the contract.

The contract was made in three copies. One was kept by Locke, one was kept by Otherworld Peach Garden, and one needed to be delivered to the White Wizard Association's Warship Management Division for storage.

After the Second Circle wizard shop owner finished signing the contract, he said to Locke, "Wizard Locke, do you need to order any other essential items for void exploration?"

"Would you like void battle armor?"

Locke had heard of void battle armor. It was actually a product of the most recent advances in wizard civilization, a battle suit assembled from large numbers of high-grade magical artifacts, each one a great achievement of wizarding civilization's alchemical arts.

But the things were extraordinarily expensive. A single suit of battle armor cost more than most ordinary void warships.

The advantage was that void battle armor integrated the benefits of many magical artifacts. A single suit of void battle armor included the equivalent of wizard shoes, magical gloves, a wizard hat, wizard robes, a staff, and more. It could also be used for extreme exploration, could save one's life at critical moments, and could even allow the wearer to briefly detach from a void warship and travel short distances within the great void.

Some extremely wealthy high-circle wizards would sometimes purchase such armor when conducting void exploration.

Locke asked, "Can battle armor be rented?"

The Second Circle wizard shop owner paused, then smiled and said, "Wizard battle armor cannot be rented. This is different from a void warship. Many of its components are consumables. Also, each suit of armor is a high-grade custom item deeply bound to the wizard's spiritual characteristics."

"So this is unlike a void warship. It cannot be rented."

Locke shook his head. Then never mind.

Even if he took out a loan and combined it with every magic stone he had, he could not afford even the most basic model of void battle armor.

Void battle armor was that expensive.

The reason why the market for wizard shoes shrank noticeably at the Third Circle level was precisely because void battle armor existed. Once you had void battle armor, what need was there for wizard shoes?

Locke thought: 'Although void battle armor is not that much more expensive than a void warship, a void warship can be used by a whole crew, while void battle armor can only be used by one person. The consumables for void battle armor are also far more expensive than for a warship, and battle armor is very difficult to sell second-hand.'

'As a result, void warships and void battle armor are not even in the same consumer tier.'

Locke thought: 'But some essential equipment for exploration does need to be bought. No need for wizard shoes. Magical gloves, a wizard hat, wizard robes, and a wizard mask for exploration, combined with wizard shoes, make up the standard explorer's five-piece set.'

Locke said, "Forget the armor. I could not afford even a single suit."

The Second Circle wizard shop owner felt slightly regretful.

"Not at all. A genius as young as Wizard Locke should really ideally buy a suit of armor. It would make void exploration considerably safer."

Locke said, "I need ten First Circle wizard explorer sets and one Second Circle wizard explorer set. By the way, I do not need wizard shoes. Can they be removed from the sets?"

Those ten First Circle wizards were his employees, so he needed to prepare equipment for them.

Old Henry and Hussein were his partners, not employees. Old Henry had spent his whole life in the great void and certainly had his own equipment, and he was also an enchanter himself.

Hussein should have his own preparations as well.

The main issue was the Second Circle wizard standard five-piece set, which cost over ten million magic stones per set.

The Second Circle wizard shop owner furrowed his brow.

"That is not easy to arrange. Generally, wizard shoes are bundled together with the set and sold as a package."

Locke said, "Which brand provides the wizard shoes for Otherworld Peach Garden's standard sets?"

The Second Circle wizard shop owner immediately answered, "The First Circle standard explorer set uses shoes from Vicos. The Second Circle standard explorer set uses shoes from Blue Ribbon."

"Specifically, it is a fine individual item from Blue Ribbon called the Red Ribbon."

The Second Circle wizard shop owner said, "This is the Throne's establishment. All equity belongs to the Throne, so the quality of our shop is most guaranteed, and we use only the finest wizard shoes. You can have complete confidence in that."

Locke shook his head slightly. "No, that is not my concern. Vicos is a sub-brand of Melechi's Magic Steps, and Blue Ribbon is Solas Light Foot's finest sub-alliance. You should know that my shop alliance has recently been in competition with them."

The Second Circle wizard shop owner said, "Fair enough, but that has nothing to do with Otherworld Peach Garden."

"Still, everything can be worked around. A First Circle wizard five-piece set is originally priced at five hundred thousand. I will take out the Vicos wizard shoes and sell them separately to other customers who need them, then sell the set to you at four hundred thousand magic stones."

"A Second Circle wizard five-piece set is originally priced at fifteen million. I will pull out the Red Ribbon wizard shoes and sell you the set at twelve million."

The Second Circle wizard shop owner said to Locke, "Buying a bundle set is still better value overall. After all, this is explorer gear for entering the void. Among First Circle magical artifacts, items like these are generally priced starting at one hundred and fifty thousand each, with some going up to two hundred thousand. Buying five items separately would add up to seven hundred and fifty thousand, maybe even a million. Buying the bundled set gets you everything for just five hundred thousand."

"The same logic applies for Second Circle magical artifacts. Items at this grade generally run around four million magic stones each. Buying the set can save you at least five million magic stones."

Locke understood the reasoning.

And the cost of the set could not really be avoided, because when entering the void, a Second Circle wizard was best off wearing a pair of Second Circle wizard shoes to allow quick short-distance movement in the void and to avoid being trapped in certain regions that were extremely difficult to navigate.

There was also the wizard robe for reinforcing the permanent defensive field shell, to guard against magical fluctuations of plane-collapse magnitude in the great void, or against certain extremely unusual situations that might arise in some planes.

Magical gloves were worn to prevent contact with objects during target plane visits or void navigation that could not be touched directly by the palm.

Locke had once read a tale in the free library on a wizard air vessel. A Second Circle wizard had once believed that having a permanent defensive field shell meant he need not fear most dangers in the void. So, to save money, he did not equip himself with magical gloves. The result was that on a target plane, he touched the egg of a famous Second Circle magical creature called the Twin Magic Serpent. The egg exploded, and the momentary spike in magic pressure exceeded the capacity of his permanent defensive field shell, shattering his defenses. The egg then burrowed into his body through his unprotected palm and parasitized him.

This led the wizard to spend countless times the amount he had saved by skipping the gloves seeking out potion wizards to treat him, and reportedly he was left with severe side effects afterward that caused him to fall gradually behind and become an ordinary wizard.

The origin of this entire tragedy was simply that he had wanted to save money and had therefore not bought a pair of magical gloves. He had gone to an unknown plane without magical gloves, explored unknown creatures, and been caught off guard by that magic serpent.

The environment of the great void was exceedingly complex.

Even being a Second Circle wizard, one still needed to equip oneself fully from head to toe, leaving no vulnerabilities, before going to an unknown plane for exploration.

Better safe than sorry.

By the same logic, wizard hats generally had two main functions.

The first was to increase a Second Circle wizard's magic pressure multiplier, which was to say indirectly enhancing the Grand Magic. This had once been the primary core function of wizard hats.

The second was added to wizard hats after the onset of the great void exploration era: to enhance a wizard's adaptability to the planar force of unfamiliar planes.

The wizard mask was for protecting a wizard's senses and eyes. In certain special worlds, even using spiritual power to explore could contaminate a wizard's spiritual power.

Or in some special planes, situations could arise where a wizard's perception, being too keen, would itself become a source of harm.

So the core function of the wizard mask was to protect the senses of wizards whose perception was overly acute.

None of the five pieces in the explorer's set could be done without.

After a moment's thought, Locke agreed to the shop owner's approach. Although the other party would likely not lower the price on the removed item, or even sell it at the same rate, but rather mark it up considerably, that was none of his concern.

So Locke paid twenty million three hundred and eighty thousand magic stones.

He had only just earned thirty-five million magic stones, with fifteen million remaining in savings, yet before the void exploration had even officially begun, he had already parted with twenty million three hundred and eighty thousand magic stones.

The cost of void exploration was truly high.

Though it was to be expected. After all, this involved leaving the wizard world and traveling to other planes through void navigation.

This was only the beginning. There would be many more occasions to spend money ahead.

Still, he needed to keep some of the payment funds in hand.

After signing a series of contracts, Locke took the equipment and returned to Golden Crown Mountain to prepare to depart with Hussein and the others.

He also made a trip to the White Wizard Association and paid three million magic stones in taxes.

...

Seven days later, before Locke's main body officially set out for void navigation, he received a reply from Myriad Phenomena Crossroads.

Locke's clone sat in his office and read the reply from Myriad Phenomena Crossroads.

'Dear Mr. Locke Augustine, we are pleased to write to you and inform you that your manuscript has been accepted and will be published in next month's issue of Myriad Phenomena Crossroads...'

'We are glad you chose to submit to Myriad Phenomena Crossroads. We hope you will continue to send excellent papers to our journal in the future. Thank you for your contribution to Myriad Phenomena Crossroads and to golden magical plants.'

Locke's Ancient Tree Fruit clone leaned back against his chair, feeling somewhat dazed and wistful. His first Tier 1 paper at the Second Circle stage had gone out just like that?

Every Second Circle wizard he had encountered went pale at the mere mention of Tier 1 papers.

Wizard Kelt did not seem to have a single Tier 1 publication. He worried about it every day.

Yet now he had received his very first Tier 1 journal paper.

Locke felt faintly unreal about it, because everyone had said it was extraordinarily difficult, yet he had somehow done it.

Locke let out a slow breath.

"I believe publishing a Tier 1 journal paper is the equivalent of completing a vertical Second Circle grant. I can receive one Tourmaline King Peach."

"I had originally thought submitting to Myriad Phenomena Crossroads this time might be a bit uncertain. Who would have thought things would go this smoothly? A week later and I received an acceptance notice. They did not even ask me for a single revision."

What Locke did not know was that while everything appeared smooth and easy from his perspective, back in the Twilight Border's Old Ruins City, in the headquarters of the Crossroads journal inside the bronze bell, a considerable uproar had already been stirred.

...

Twilight Border, Old Ruins City, conference room inside the bronze bell structure.

Sun Ring Wizard Flavi sat at the head of the conference table with a somber expression. Wizard Posbrous stood before him, and around the conference table sat many other wizards.

At the same time, Wizard Salonius arrived late, because the meeting had been convened on short notice. He had been notified rather late, and he had not been at the Crossroads office building beforehand, so he had hurried over.

Wizard Salonius's heart sank the moment he stepped into the conference room, because he immediately felt a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

He looked toward Wizard Posbrous, who was standing in the middle giving his report, and Posbrous, upon seeing his direct superior with a completely bewildered expression, began blinking rapidly to give him hints.

Wizard Salonius shifted his gaze at once to a journal paper on the desk.

That was...

The paper from that blank-slate young man from Golden Crown Mountain?

He caught the title of the paper on the copy beside it: The Mechanism of Atavistic Regression from Green Foxtail Grass to Golden Spike Wheat...

Wizard Salonius's heart plummeted.

How terrible. Earlier, to get through his work more efficiently and move on to other tasks, he had not read so much as the title of this paper.

The instant he saw the title, he knew this situation was trouble.

From the perspective of the current Twilight Border, the atavistic evolution of an ordinary Second Circle magical plant was of no great consequence. But the problem was that this was Golden Spike Wheat.

This was once the symbol of the Twilight Border, which had later disappeared into history along with the Twilight Border's decline.

Now that the Twilight Border had just regained some of its vitality, this was precisely the time to strengthen its internal cohesion and counter the influence of the Star Domain Sea.

If the atavistic evolution in this paper was successful, then he had killed the paper, which was a serious dereliction of duty on his part.

This was even graver than the problem of rejecting a good paper without good reason.