ebookpocket.com Chapter 426: Both Comrades and Friends!
Chapter 426: Both Comrades and Friends!
At noon, on White Dragon Street.Alicia said to Locke, "I saw that you won the championships in both the Moss Shield Medal Competition and the Thousand-Eyed Vine Competition. Your two types of eye grass shone brilliantly in the southeastern quadrant, winning two well-deserved championships. The wizards on the Philade family's side have been talking about this matter for days."
Only the Shadow Eye Grass was a project under the Philade family, so both the Philade family and Collins, the old wizard, possessed the cultivation methods for the eye grass. However, the problem was that Locke's Shadow Eye Grass and Golden Eye Grass were his own research, and thus were completely unrelated to the Philade family.
But who knew that Locke was the junior apprentice of Wizard Anthony, the acting family head of the Philade family, and was a breeder specifically invited by him to support his position.
At the same time, both eye grass projects were derived from Shadow Eye Grass, so during this period, Wizard Anthony's face often carried a smile. Locke's success had further elevated his prestige.
Not only that, Locke was now thriving in the Plutarch family, which also indirectly bolstered Wizard Anthony's influence within the Philade family.
Because of this, much of the information Locke needed for participating in the Cloud Marsh Cup was proactively provided by Wizard Anthony on the gray stone tablet.
On White Dragon Street, Locke said, "They were just two small competitions, so winning them was relatively easy. Both types of eye grass are quite good among First Circle magical plants."
"Your victory was within my expectations."
Alicia was not currently wearing her white wizard robe, but rather a bright red wizard robe. She seemed to particularly like the color red, though she no longer dressed as childishly as before.
Her current style was very mature.
It also suited her current social status.
Alicia smiled, "Only you could say such a thing. Your victory in two small competitions has also made some members of the Plutarch family understand that you are truly working on projects. Currently, those gossips and rumors have decreased considerably."
"Although there are still many people with ulterior motives who talk about us a lot, rumors stop at the wise. Locke, soon those people will discover they were all wrong, that you're not embezzling funds but earnestly working on projects."
Alicia explained to Locke, "It's just that your research group has very few family wizard members. Are you sure you don't need some excellent family wizards? Many of my relatives have expressed to me that they can help you."
Locke nodded. "I definitely lack people here, but I need them to provide resumes and undergo competency tests. I need capable people."
Alicia smiled and said, "Alright, in a few days, I'll have someone send you the materials. Among them is the son of my uncle Uriel. Uriel has always been close to Erik, but recently I can't figure out why he keeps wanting to send his son into your research group through me."
"In any case, you decide these matters yourself, Locke." Alicia sighed and said, "I've reflected a lot recently, especially after seeing the social structure of the Mage Plane. Perhaps my grandfather has always wanted to change the current situation of the Land of Six Towers. But after serving as acting family head, I can feel how impossible it is to achieve the desire for change."
"The Plutarch family itself is the leader of the family wizards. If we want reform, we must first reform ourselves."
Locke listened silently without interrupting.
Witch Sophia had reminded him to simply work on his projects here honestly. If he got too deeply involved, he might very well be drawn into the complex grudges and grievances of the Plutarch family.
Besides, as a First Circle wizard fresh from the academy, he didn't have the insight to guide all the wizards of the Land of Six Towers on how to live their lives.
That was not something his current self should be doing.
Alicia confided in Locke, "I think if your team, composed entirely of commoner wizards, can achieve a ranking in the Cloud Marsh Cup, it will be a huge change for me and for the Land of Six Towers."
"This will shatter the self-deceiving illusions of the family wizards in the Land of Six Towers. It will make them directly face the fact that the native commoner wizards of the Land of Six Towers can also be this excellent."
Alicia said, "Although systemic change either comes through upheaval or slow transformation, and cannot be accomplished overnight, after experiencing that incident on the airship, I feel my entire way of thinking has changed somewhat."
"Wizards of the Necromancy School often say that death inevitably takes away something from those spirits. Even if necromantic magic is used to resurrect them, the resurrected person will never be the same person they once were, and will experience memory loss, logical confusion, incoherent speech, or loss of humanity, turning into a beast."
"But I think that when a wizard comes infinitely close to death, it also brings great changes to themselves." Alicia looked at White Dragon Street and frowned. "After that incident, I underwent a great change."
"I want to make the Land of Six Towers better, to be worthy of the resources I've received here."
"I want to make the Plutarch family better."
Alicia furrowed her brow seriously. At this moment, her magical pressure underwent a special fluctuation. Locke keenly captured this and discovered that this change disappeared rapidly after appearing for just an instant.
Because it was so subtle and so brief, if Locke hadn't been taking Beholder-type potions long-term to enhance his mental sensitivity and wasn't so intimately familiar with Alicia's mana fluctuations, he wouldn't have been able to detect it at all.
'Alicia's magical pressure fluctuation showed a special change. Her entire being seems to have undergone a certain transformation,' Locke thought. 'Just now she must have experienced some kind of unknown change.'
Alicia looked at Locke and said, "During this period, I've come to realize something, and this conclusion is extremely cruel, becoming excellent means killing the family itself."
"Only now can I understand my grandfather's thinking. As long as the Land of Six Towers becomes excellent, then the family and the system here will be forcibly changed. As long as I can connect the evaluation system of the Land of Six Towers with the outside wizard lands, those self-deceiving people will have no choice but to face reality."
Alicia said to Locke, "Locke, you are the first step in my attempt to do this. I hope you can achieve a very good ranking in the Cloud Marsh Cup."
"You and I are both comrades and friends."
Locke hesitated for a moment with Alicia. Thinking that the two were friends, he said in a low voice, "Alicia, your thinking is very good. But this way you'll offend far too many wizards."
"I suggest you take everything slowly. Don't be too hasty."
Alicia said, "Of course."
"Grandfather has said the same thing to me. He is also extremely supportive of my ideas."
Alicia looked at Locke, her face slightly flushed. "Having such a reliable comrade like you by my side is so reassuring. Back to business, how is your research group doing, Locke?"
Thinking of the research group, Locke felt slightly worried. "The initial personnel have been selected, and currently we're choosing topics. But now Witch Barbara and Wizard Tacitus in my research group have deepening conflicts. Their personalities are seriously incompatible."
"This is my first concern."
"The second concern is that during this month's group meetings, each of the three of them has decent individual abilities, but when they meet together, they always argue, always question each other, thus steering the discussion in other directions."
"The project applications they've submitted this month also aren't as good as I imagined. They're of limited help to me and are done mediocrely."
Locke said, "This is my first time leading such a large research group. I'm worried there's something wrong with my management methods, causing me to be unable to harness these people's talents."
Alicia shook her head and looked at Locke with full trust. "Not at all. Locke is the most reliable wizard. How could there be a problem?"
"Perhaps their conflicts are just a small episode within the research group. Let things take their natural course, and perhaps you'll have a good outcome."
"Give them some time, and they might produce something good for you."
Locke and Alicia's eyes met. The two smiled at each other. One was an acting family head, and the other was a small advisor without a teaching position.
To a certain extent, the two were indeed in similar predicaments and truly were comrades.
Two trainee comrades.
The two walked along White Dragon Street for a while. Alicia had invited Locke to go to another shop on White Dragon Street that she thought had great value.
Alicia said to Locke, "I heard that the practical test for the Cloud Marsh Cup uses those Mekani people for testing, right? Although our White Dragon Street doesn't have artificial races as advanced as the Mekani people, we have a shop on White Dragon Street called [Joseph's Golem Shop]."
"There are many golems inside, specifically used for wizards to conduct performance tests on spells, magical plants, magical artifacts, and other items."
"Perhaps going to that shop could be helpful to you."
"That shop is run by alchemists. Its main location is in the Cloud Marsh Wetland, and this is a branch they've opened. There are many types of golems to choose from, flesh golems, iron golems, diamond golems, clay golems, ice crystal golems, stone golems, and so on..."
"Especially the iron golems. The Mekani people's manufacturing technology partially references iron golems. I believe going to that shop to practice will definitely benefit your competition."
Facing Locke's surprised look, Alicia's face flushed slightly as she explained, "I've also looked up some materials related to the Cloud Marsh Cup during this time. That's why I learned what the Mekani people are."
Locke said to Alicia, "Thank you, Alicia. This must have taken considerable effort on your part."
Alicia shook her head and said, "I'm your financial backer, so naturally I should help you. This is also helping myself."
Alicia said, "By the way, how is your learning of the Hive Mind Potion going? We can exchange ideas and discuss frequently. This should help you make your first Hive Mind Potion as soon as possible."
"I previously had my butler send you a batch of lower-grade substitute materials for practicing the Hive Mind Potion."
Locke nodded and said, "That batch of materials is very useful to me. After all, I have a limited number of times I can fail. The core material of the Hive Mind Potion is the brain of a First Circle Mind Flayer, and that material requires venturing into the Abyss to hunt Mind Flayers."
Alicia nodded. "That's good, as long as it can help you."
Locke glanced at Alicia's magical pressure and said, "Your magical pressure is still increasing too slowly. You mentioned before wanting to work with me to improve the unicorn rhino potion formula. We can try that. If we can successfully improve it and increase the positioning precision of the unicorn rhino bloodline, we can completely continue to enhance your physical strength and increase your absorption of Mammon's Powder Potion."
"By the way, can't the Evocation School bloodline use incantations to strengthen bloodlines?" Locke said, "Then we can completely try to enhance the unicorn rhino bloodline from both the Evocation School and potion studies directions."
During this recent period, Locke really hadn't had time for anything else. So he'd been constantly working on projects, even delaying his side income work.
Previously, he had wondered if he could synthesize some gems to sell here.
Later he canceled this idea because synthesis required a long time, and he needed to use his daily synthesis opportunities for formula testing and research on those projects.
He had no extra synthesis opportunities to use for synthesizing gems. Besides, synthetic gems had another problem, he wasn't an alchemist and had no way to reasonably explain the source of large quantities of high-grade gems.
So regarding gems, Locke only planned to synthesize some high-grade gems for his own use rather than for sale. However, he had the idea of selling some potions and magical plants, but he was too busy now and could only temporarily make a choice between projects and making money.
So for now, he hadn't gotten it started.
Alicia's eyes lit up. "If we can combine the unicorn rhino bloodline transformation potion, Mammon's Powder Potion, and toxicity countermeasure potion together, we could completely open a shop here."
"This combination of potions can help a wizard quickly advance from ordinary First Circle to liquefaction wizard."
"If we could open such a shop, we could make a lot of money. It's just that the difficulty of concocting all three potions is very high. The native potion masters of the Land of Six Towers don't have this kind of concoction ability, even if they knew the formulas."
"Similarly, there are still physical requirements for those taking them. It's not suitable for everyone."
Alicia's physique was still quite good. After all, she had the physical enhancement from the Scorpion Woman bloodline. This method still wasn't suitable for an ordinary wizard to use, as it would cause the physical body to explode and die.
But because there were many Evocation School wizards in the Land of Six Towers, and their physiques were relatively good, if this combination potion was sold in a shop in the Land of Six Towers, it would likely make quite a bit of money.
Alicia said, "Locke, perhaps I could partner with you to open a shop together in the Land of Six Towers."
"We could continue using the name of your potion product line in the southeastern quadrant. We could call it Augustine Series Potion Specialty Shop." Alicia said, "What do you think?"
"Sounds good." Locke felt the letter paper in his coat pocket transmit scorching heat. He took out the letter paper and was stunned for a moment. "Things actually took such a turn."
"This way, that project from the Star Domain Sea... I really can consider having my research group continue with it."
Alicia looked at the letter paper in his hand. "Locke? What's wrong?"
Locke put away the letter paper. "It's actually nothing. It's just that my research group's progress had been stuck for a month, and suddenly today results burst forth. Montgomery in my research group, together with Witch Barbara and Wizard Tacitus, produced a new and quite good project application. Moreover, this project has a very good synergistic effect with a topic I was originally interested in."
"Previously I only hinted at this direction to them. I didn't expect those three to give me such a big surprise."
"This way, I can make up my mind to proceed with the topic I wanted to do before."
After hearing this, Alicia immediately smiled. "I also guessed things would develop this way. After becoming family head, my biggest gain has been discovering that if you let things take their natural course, people who can solve problems will naturally appear."
"Sometimes you don't need to be so anxious. You also don't need to mend the conflicts within the team. The more you try to mend them, the more they'll argue. Let things take their natural course, and they'll resolve things themselves. They're all First Circle wizards after all."
Locke suddenly felt somewhat speechless.
The person who appeared to solve problems that Alicia mentioned, couldn't that be himself?
Locke discovered that Alicia seemed to have that hands-off manager style of management.
It was completely different from Grand Wizard Sulla's method of management, where he had to care about everything, manipulate everything behind the scenes, and most detested others escaping his control.
These two methods each had their own shortcomings and benefits.