531: The First Project Application of the True Knowledge Institute
The Second Ring Wizard in charge of the class waved a hand, and immediately, all the handwriting written by the magic chalk on the magic wall twisted and moved, then, as if pulled away by something in the air, it all vanished.
The Second Ring Wizard smiled and said: "Congratulations to the four of you. You have all completed this course, earned 100 points, and obtained the qualification to teach students at Golden Crown Mountain."
"Next, the academy will assign students to each of you. At the same time, those students will also be your experimental assistants; they are considered your students, and can also serve as experimental assistants to you Formal Wizards."
The Second Ring Wizard pointed to the incredibly smooth black wall and said: "By the way, I will now teach you a spell that can activate the black hole witch peach located in the center of the mountain at Golden Crown Mountain. That is a powerful peach tree. By using the spell, you can summon a portion of that peach tree's power and let it swallow the [unwanted] things you need to erase."
"It can swallow anything, from small trash and waste to out-of-control experimental subjects. Other wizard organizations like to throw experimental waste into Yun Lake, but we are more environmentally friendly; we let the black hole witch peach... eat the experimental waste."
The Second Ring Wizard ate a can, then threw the can along with the waste onto the floor, making that patch of ground dirty.
But he chanted a spell, and the next moment, the floor seemed to grow an invisible giant mouth; in the blink of an eye, everything disappeared.
The classroom floor became incredibly clean.
Wizard Daniel said in surprise in Locke's ear: "Did Golden Crown Mountain put a black hole inside their mountain just to make it convenient for wizards to throw away trash?"
"Using black hole gravity to throw away trash?"
"No wonder the buildings here are all so clean."
Locke was a bit speechless. "This should just be incidental. If the experimental waste of tens of thousands of wizards at Golden Crown Mountain is constantly being thrown into that black hole witch peach, I think it must be meaningful for that magic plant as well."
Locke tried using the spell the Second Ring Wizard had just taught him. Immediately, he felt a towering ancient tree appear behind him in the darkness; it seemed to be its spiritual body.
But that peach tree was shrouded in infinite gravity, and there was also a ring resembling a black hole's event horizon.
Its spiritual body was like a black-and-white photograph. After discovering there was nothing for him to throw away, the next moment, Locke came back to his senses, and his attention returned to the classroom.
Wizard Daniel had obviously tried it too. He said in an amazed tone: "That magic plant... I can't sense its magic pressure at all, as if it doesn't exist, but I can clearly see where its spiritual body is."
"To think that such a powerful magic plant can be called upon just to throw away trash. As expected of Golden Crown Mountain."
Locke said: "Yeah, it's quite practical anyway."
"In the future, when I do experiments, if I have any experimental waste, I won't need to throw it away myself; I'll just chant a spell and throw it toward the black hole witch peach."
Wizard Daniel sat in his seat. At this point, only the two of them were left in the classroom. Wizard Daniel said: "Speaking of practical, we have been at the True Knowledge Institute for over a month now. What do you think of Golden Crown Mountain and the Yunze Wetland?"
After thinking for a while, Locke said: "Hmm... because I've been very busy lately, let alone the Yunze Wetland, even at Golden Crown Mountain I only go to a few fixed places: the library—the laboratory—my magic field."
"So, it's hard for me to say what kind of special impression I have of the Yunze Wetland. But it's definitely completely different from how I felt when I came to participate in the Yunze Cup last time."
Locke said: "Overall, life here is convenient, and there are many things that aren't available in other Wizard Lands, but the cost of living at Golden Crown Mountain is very high. I've been trying very hard to save money, but who knew I would still spend one thousand magic stones on living expenses in the past month."
Locke asked Daniel: "What about you? How do you feel at Golden Crown Mountain?"
Because the two were neighbors, colleagues, had attended classes together for over a month, and had entered the True Knowledge Institute in the same year, their relationship was now quite good.
Wizard Daniel pursed his lips and said: "Thinking about it carefully, it feels like yesterday. Anyway, this place is very different from the Golden Crown Mountain I imagined. The pace of life in the Fission Mausoleum Plain is much slower than here. Every wizard here seems to be battling an invisible opponent; everyone is working hard, carving out their own time to conduct experiments."
"Also, in the Fission Mausoleum Plain, I spent every day researching how to create weather systems with more functions. But here, my group leader has had me observing the patterns of fog within five meters above the crowns of different pine trees for a month now..."
Wizard Daniel clutched his head and said: "I'm a bit confused now. I feel like I've gone from being a great chief engineer to a tiny spare part."
"My perspective here hasn't broadened; instead, it's become very narrow."
Wizard Daniel fell into confusion. "I don't know if I came to the wrong place."
Wizard Daniel thought for a moment, then immediately reacted and looked at Locke: "I don't know if you have this feeling, but we haven't thought about anything useful, anything that can be directly converted into results and commercialized, for a long time, right?"
"I'm afraid that after staying here for five years, I'll have forgotten all the knowledge about manufacturing exquisite weather systems, and be left only with the knowledge of observing the patterns of different types of fog."
Locke nodded slightly. "I'm doing alright, actually."
Wizard Daniel looked at Locke in confusion. "Alright? Don't you have the same predicament as me? That's impossible..."
Locke shook his head. "Daniel, haven't you realized one thing! The research here is so highly specialized, and for the two of us 'engineers,' this is of immense benefit."
"Here, whatever information you want, you can just look it up directly. I've tried it; in the library at Golden Crown Mountain, you can find almost any information you need. You just need contribution points to borrow paid books, though, of course, the literature in the free section is already very rich."
Wizard Daniel's body trembled.
Locke said: "The research here is so detailed, which naturally benefits us both. By reading these studies, it's actually easier for us to utilize this information to create the practical things we want, isn't it?"
Wizard Daniel nodded, tapping his open left hand with his clenched right fist. "I almost got sidetracked by Wizard Thomassen."
"To hell with his abstract theories. No need to worry about so much; just focus on the parts that are beneficial to us."
Wizard Daniel slapped his forehead. "I should also use my spare time to go to the library and borrow some books."
"For the past month or so, I've just been mechanically and repeatedly recording those fog patterns every day. It's time to go borrow some materials and improve myself."
"Make a special weather system to please myself."
Wizard Daniel said gratefully to Locke: "Locke, thank you for reminding me. You are still more insightful. You adapted to the Yunze Wetland much faster than I did."
Locke spread his hands and said: "Even if I hadn't said anything, I think you would have figured this out on your own very soon anyway."
"I'm going back. My project application is almost finished."
Daniel said: "So fast? Well, my project application is also taking shape. See you later then."
Locke returned to his residence. Inside his study, Locke took out a piece of sea gold sand from his astral ring. However, this sea gold sand was not only a mutated variety of tree fern, but it was also covered in ice crystals.
Around its triangular leaves floated snowflakes-shaped ice crystals, and its gold powder spores were bluish in color.
In the past month, Locke had learned two special pieces of Botany knowledge in the free section of the library—
First, the success rate of grafting tree ferns and tree-type magic plants is very high.
Second, grafting branches of the six-sided prism sentry tower ice tree onto a tree fern using the drill-grafting method under the aurora can allow that tree fern to acquire the ability of its natural ice magic.
Utilizing these two points, Locke used the Grafting Cultivation Method and the synthesis cube to complete the cultivation of another mutated variety of sea gold sand within the druids ring over this month.
Six-Sided Prism Sentry Tower sea gold sand!
At this moment, this tree fern sea gold sand had six ice crystal snowflakes lingering around the sea gold sand tree fern, transforming into six snowflake ice crystal mirrors.
Locke used this ice sea gold sand. Immediately, as he used the Golden Sand Torrent Spell Model, a large amount of ice-blue gold sand erupted; it was gold sand spore powder mixed with ice shards.
A mixture of Golden Magic and ice magic.
Golden Magic originally had excellent conductivity, and now, using the mutated version of sea gold sand, it was naturally easy to allow this Golden Magic to be imbued with ice power while using it.
Locke looked at this scene with satisfaction.
"This mutated variety of sea gold sand will have a unique effect. Although it loses the purity of Golden Magic, it can mix in specific frost power during attacks."
"Perhaps at certain times, it will play a key role."
Locke thought: "In this way, I can use Scorching Gold Sand Flow to summon both ice sand and gold sand at the same time. Next, when I have time, I can also see if I can create more mutated varieties of sea gold sand."
The Golden Crown Mountain library is a free treasure trove.
It contains a lot of information that can provide ideas I hadn't even thought of before, helping me quickly lock onto special synthesis formulas or cultivate special subspecies.
Afterward, Locke entered his study and began writing a project application with the experimental data he had collected previously.
...
A month later, Locke walked into the public laboratory and went into the group leader's office of the Second Ring Wizard Celtic.
His project application was already finished. Although according to the contract, he did not need the approval of the Second Ring Wizard Celtic, he only needed his cooperating mentor to sign it.
But Witch Yekaterina was very busy. In the previous two months, he had only met her once collectively with a group of people during a group meeting.
Because he had not yet entered the First Ring Crystallization Stage, there was no need for the time being to waste her busy time spending an hour specially selecting an Advanced Meditation Technique for him.
Therefore, for the time being, Locke did not ask Witch Yekaterina for help.
And in these two months, Witch Yekaterina had not initiated contact with him even once. Perhaps she was too busy, or perhaps he was not special among her cooperating wizards; she had dozens of cooperating students from the True Knowledge Institute.
But in any case, Wizard Celtic had a magic stamp in his hand with Yekaterina's name on it. As long as Wizard Celtic thought it was okay, he could stamp his project application.
Then, he would be able to go to the White Wizard Association branch, to the Fund Management Department, to submit the project application.
Of course, Wizard Celtic couldn't block him, because he was just a heartless stamping machine set up by Yekaterina to save trouble, with only a little bit of his own judgment rights.
If Wizard Celtic made any difficulties, Locke could just go directly to Witch Yekaterina for the signature.
It would just be a bit more troublesome.
Inside the Group Six leader's office, the Second Ring Wizard Celtic looked at Locke and said: "You finished the preliminary experimental data and wrote a project application in just two months?"
The Second Ring Wizard Celtic nodded slightly; he certainly recognized the good parts.
He wished that everyone in Group Six was a capable wizard, so his pressure would be much less.
Wizard Celtic frowned. "There is just one problem. In these two months, the wizards in Group Six told me that you almost never discussed anything with them, nor did you ask them for data."
"You didn't come to consult me either. In fact, although I have many opinions about you, I am still very willing to discuss academic issues with you. Let me see what you've come up with after working behind closed doors for two months."
Wizard Celtic looked up at Locke.
Wizard Celtic looked at the title of the project application and immediately frowned, because the topic Locke had chosen was actually the symbiotic relationship between avian magic creatures and pineapple-type magic plants.
This clearly had no overlap with the current research direction of Group Six.
Wizard Celtic frowned immediately, and his tone became cold. "The worst thing I had thought of still happened. You did the same thing as that eliminated researcher from the Hall of Advanced True Knowledge. He also ignored my advice and did his own research."
Wizard Celtic said: "Most of the research on pineapple-type magic creatures was concentrated on by our Group Six twenty years ago, and we achieved very good results. Therefore, our Group Six's main energy recently has been on the relationship between ant-type magic creatures and madder-type magic plants."
"That was the direction chosen under the leadership of the previous Group Six leader. Yekaterina is very patient and hasn't interfered too much with this."
"I suggest you... Huh?" Wizard Celtic read on. With his sensitivity to data, he immediately realized that the quality of the preliminary experimental data in the project application before him was extremely high.
"How many magic stones did you spend to produce such high-quality data in advance?"
Wizard Celtic's tone warmed up a bit. "Although you made the same choice as that idiot, you are undoubtedly much more capable than him. This project application meets high quality requirements, so if you insist on applying, I can only agree."
"But... the number of projects you want to do is too many."
"If you streamlined it to just one, it might be better."
Wizard Celtic frowned because he saw that in Locke's project application, he was actually attempting to analyze the coexistence relationship between four types of pineapple-type magic plants and specific magic creatures at once.
It was just that, to avoid appearing strange, Locke did not mention the great yellow duck crown pineapple in the project application, nor did he mention the royal lightning field-like natural magic structural component.
Although Locke was certain that it was a type of natural magic structural component that existed in nature and had not yet been discovered.
He only mentioned in the project application that perhaps the Great Yellow Duck Pineapple had other natural magic structural components that might be beneficial to the growth of the Lightning Bee, and clearly stated the fact that the Thunderbird's natural reproductive ability was enhanced only after eating the Lightning Bee.
Wizard Celtic looked at Locke in confusion and said: "I admit that every piece of your preliminary experimental data is exceptionally solid. Your work is better than I imagined."
"But aren't you too impatient, wanting to investigate four pineapple-type magic plants at once."
Wizard Celtic was still thinking about the two projects he had previously wanted to give to Locke. "However, if you are interested, you could do the two projects I wanted to give you earlier at the same time."
Locke shook his head slightly. "Sorry, Teacher Celtic, I am still interested in the topic mentioned in this project application I have written."
"I think... interest is quite important."
"Where my interest lies, I will be more motivated to work."
Wizard Celtic looked at the project application in his hand, somewhat unwillingly, and frowned: "If you could listen to me and work hard with us in Group Six, things would become much easier. Forget it..."
He muttered in a low voice. "Young people just need to hit a few walls before they know how to change direction.",