Reviews for Two Major Journals
Inside the editor's office of the southeast journal, the editor of the Southeast Corner Region's journal southeast, a First Ring Crystallization Wizard, was currently reviewing and categorizing articles.
Articles submitted to southeast would undergo initial selection, where clearly unqualified or misdirected submissions would be removed, and letters would be sent back to the Wizard, indicating the rejection of their article.
However, after the initial selection, external experts needed to be found—at least two or more experts from the same magical school, sub-direction of magic, and specific magical field—to conduct a double-blind review.
Only after receiving opinions from two or more experts, combined with the editorial department's opinion, could an article be published in the journal.
These were just the requirements for southeast, and even stricter requirements applied to larger journals.
After all, the Southeast Corner Region was not a particularly high-level Wizard Land.
At this moment, after reading Locke's article on Mister Power, the editor of southeast's expression subtly changed. "This is… "
"Mister Power? The submitter is a Wizard from the Southeast Corner Region. Although he is currently in Six Towers Land, he can indeed submit to southeast; it meets the requirements." The editor Wizard quickly realized the crux of the issue. "Mister Power was once Lilith's Cottage's highest secret. How much bloodshed and how many riots Lilith's Cottage caused back then to verify the existence of Mister Power!"
"The inhumane experiments even interrupted Lilith's Cottage's upward momentum and drew severe warnings from the White Wizard Association."
The editor Wizard looked at the article before him and quickly realized the hidden significance behind it.
If this article was real, then it was absolutely extraordinary.
He was not an expert in this field, so he needed to find external experts from outside the editorial department to conduct a professional review and provide their opinions, to see if the article's intrinsic value was high enough or if it was merely a pretense.
The editor Wizard hurriedly opened his grey mist slate, and after hiding the submitter's name as per regulations, he sent two sets of materials separately to two colleagues in related fields—Dean Earl Thompson and Harlan Vera Wizard.
The editor Wizard checked the articles they had previously published in southeast, as well as those in the association's library. Several articles were related to Mister Power, so according to the principle of finding reviewers, these two should be invited to evaluate the article concerning the creation and principles of Mister Power.
The editor Wizard frowned. "Now we just have to wait for the opinions of the two experts. If it's true, then it's truly remarkable. I remember this Wizard is also from Lilith's Cottage, right?"
"After so many years, I didn't expect that those Wizards from Lilith's Cottage would finally get their wish."
…
On the other side, Locke's submission to the Cloud Marsh journal office had also arrived. Inside the Cloud Marsh editor's office, a Second Ring editor Wizard was flipping through the mail. After reading Locke's submission on using Mister Power to accelerate his becoming a First Ring Crystallization Wizard, he was slightly stunned.
"Did he submit to the wrong place? How can a First Circle Wizard directly submit to Cloud Marsh? The minimum submission standard for Cloud Marsh requires a Second Ring Wizard. Oh, this young man must be an external Wizard, so he's not aware of this."
The editor Wizard of Cloud Marsh, Earl Harry, smiled slightly. "But actually, the quality of this article is quite high. Looking at the submitter's name, he should be the Yunze Cup champion, right… "
"As expected of a Wizard who can win our Yunze Cup." After Earl Harry investigated Locke's past resume and saw that Locke was the Yunze Cup champion, his favorability towards Locke immediately increased by three points.
Locke originated from the Southeast Corner Region, later received sponsorship from the Plutarch Family in Six Towers Land, and then won the Yunze Cup Breeder competition in Yunze Wetland.
And winning this competition also became part of his background.
As a Wizard from Yunze Wetland, Earl Harry naturally trusted Locke more upon seeing that he was the Yunze Cup champion and would not think his article was nonsense.
Earl Harry thought for a moment and then wrote a polite rejection to Locke. "Dear Wizard Augustine, thank you for your submission."
"However, Cloud Marsh only accepts excellent articles on important discoveries published by Wizards above Second Ring. You may choose to submit to Cloud Marsh's important sub-journal, Green Cloud Marsh. Although it is a sub-journal, it is still a Tier 1 journal in terms of credibility."
"Secondly, while your article is of high quality, you yourself do not seem to have become a First Ring Crystallization Wizard, lacking successful examples, which is quite a pity. Therefore, to avoid your rejection by Green Cloud Marsh, we hope you can provide actual proof."
…
At the same time, inside the Poisonous Valley Wizard Secret Realm, as Locke was tracking Nidhogg, he felt his grey mist slate vibrating wildly. He summoned the grey mist slate and saw that his teacher, Harlan Vera, had sent him a message, asking if he had recently submitted an article to southeast.
Harlan Vera sent him a message—'Although I know that private contact violates the blind review principle, Locke, I still want to know, have you recently submitted an article to southeast?'
'Have you successfully acquired Mister Power?'
Locke was about to reply when he heard a roar behind him. He turned his head and saw that half the sky behind him had been dyed blood-red. A Blood River poured down from the sky, flowing into Nidhogg's body.
Nidhogg used ritual magic to suppress the sea gold sand within his body, and at the same time, his body once again became as large as a small mountain.
Like a giant.
Nidhogg let out a laugh, a soundwave-based magical creature's power that made Locke's eardrums ache.
Under the enhancement of the Blood River Plane's power, Nidhogg used his remaining five spider legs to slash at Locke's neck.
"Is this your ritual magic? It seems to be a state-enhancement type, not a curse type." Locke felt a sigh of relief when he saw the opponent forced to reveal his trump card first. At the same time, he summoned the Hydra to coil around his body.
Mister Power transformed into a giant axe, chopping towards Nidhogg. Simultaneously, Locke took out a true sight crystal from his ring, recording the events currently unfolding.
"Teacher Harlan Vera, regarding all matters concerning Mister Power, hearing is not as good as seeing."
At this moment, the ritual magic-enhanced Nidhogg and the Mister Power in Locke's hand collided.
Nidhogg roared, "This is ritual magic unique to Crystallized Wizards! You are merely a Liquefaction Wizard; you absolutely cannot resist this power."
The next moment, two powerful forces collided.
Locke immediately felt a powerful external force, not belonging to Nidhogg, descending upon his Mister Power axe.
The moment the two force fields made contact, Locke felt as if he wasn't fighting Nidhogg, but rather a portion of the Blood River Plane's power behind Nidhogg.
So-called ritual magic is the act of borrowing other powers through magical rituals to enhance one's own strength.
From Locke's current perspective, this was a lower, beggarly version of Great Magic, because the power of ritual magic did not truly belong to oneself; it was merely borrowed from external sources.
Perhaps, it even came with a considerable price.