Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Chapter 633: The Dune Base and the Drought-Resistant Magical Plant, Desert Rose

Wizard Cis flew through the air and said, "There are many research groups from Golden Crown Mountain conducting studies in this Dune World, not just my Group 2. There are also some groups belonging to wizard organizations that have collaborative agreements with Golden Crown Mountain, or that have paid to rent space here.""The Dune World is fairly well known in Cloud Marsh Wetland. After all, so many magic stones' worth of resources were spent modifying this world. It would naturally be too wasteful to use it exclusively for our own experiments."

"Only by collaborating with other wizard organizations can we recoup some of the cost."

After roughly an hour of flight, Locke and the others spotted midway along their route, nestled within the boundless sea of sand, an oasis research base bearing the emblem of the Seven-Color Nursery.

That appeared to be one of the Seven-Color Nursery's research stations within this world.

Then, fifty kilometers beyond that station, Locke and the others spotted the academy emblem of Magic Pivot City on a sand dune.

And behind that dune lay a large-scale ecological base.

It seemed the Dune World was a valuable asset for Golden Crown Mountain, with various wizard organizations willing to pay for a research site within it.

Wizard Cis led Locke and the others onward, and they eventually arrived at an oasis.

This oasis was not merely spread across the desert surface. It had been excavated downward through the rock layers beneath, and inside were tier upon tier of agricultural zones descending underground.

At a rough count, there were at least thirty levels.

At the same time, the entire oasis was covered by a layer of invisible membrane. Any magical energy and moisture that would otherwise escape from the oasis was captured by this membrane hanging over it and retained within.

Wizard Cis pointed to the transparent membrane and said, "This is the Ecological Membrane, a masterwork created by Golden Crown Mountain's alchemists. It can capture magical energy and retain moisture, yet does not impede the movement of other materials in or out."

"Without this Ecological Membrane, the magical energy inside our research station could not be maintained for more than twenty-four hours. It would go from a magic-rich zone to a magic-barren zone almost immediately, and the majority of the magical plants inside our station would die completely within a few days."

"In fact, that very process is part of the history of what once happened to this plane."

Wizard Cis said, "Beyond the Ecological Membrane, look up at the sky above the research station. There is a vessel up there."

Locke, Witch Mason, and the others looked upward and saw, hovering in the sky above the ecological base, a void warship in the shape of a colossal porcelain tree.

Countless gears and jets of heated steam were emanating from those great porcelain trees.

Wizards appeared to be conducting research within the vessel as well.

The entire enormous tree was one vast piece of witch porcelain. The blazing sunlight struck its surface, and its thermal energy was absorbed, converted, and then stored as power.

Locke pointed at the enormous porcelain structure and asked, "What is that?"

Wizard Cis said, "That is the Wizard Porcelain City, a type of structure invented by Magic Pivot City. However, this particular one is a replica produced by Golden Crown Mountain itself. You can consider it our own."

"The Wizard Porcelain City is composed of witch porcelain and can absorb solar energy and convert it into magical energy. This magical energy is then conducted into our research station, where it powers the various magical devices inside and also generates magical tides."

"As you can see, there are thirty Wizard Porcelain Cities in the sky altogether. These cities absorb solar energy every moment of every day and convert it into magical tides, maintaining the concentration gradient of magical tides within our research station."

"This plane itself is no longer capable of sustaining that on its own. Without this arrangement, no magical plants could be grown here at all."

Wizard Cis said, "The irony is that the very solar energy that turned this plane into an inferno has, through wizard technology, become the very thing granting it new life."

"This plane lacks almost everything, except energy. Energy it has in abundance."

"This place is an important research site for solar witch porcelain, and the Wizard Porcelain City is a landmark achievement born from that research. Ten years ago, after we revoked most of Magic Pivot City's bases in this world, they were left with only that one ecological base you saw earlier."

"Every year they try to apply for another base to conduct solar witch porcelain research."

Locke asked, "Golden Crown Mountain presumably wouldn't agree to that?"

Wizard Cis smiled and said, "If they were willing to make their solar witch porcelain technology public, Golden Crown Mountain might agree. But I doubt they would ever do that."

"In that case, they have no choice but to go find a colonial plane that meets their requirements on their own and use their own resources to develop it. The Council of Elders and the Academic Committee have no interest in allowing the plane we worked so hard to develop to become a tool for Magic Pivot City to research brand-new technology."

"That would put us at far too great a disadvantage. After all, it was Golden Crown Mountain that poured in all those resources. Though admittedly, Golden Crown Mountain does have an objective gap to close compared to Magic Pivot City when it comes to witch porcelain. So we had no choice but to show them the door."

Wizard Cis said, "The Wizard Porcelain Cities do not only gather magical tides for us. They also shield us from the sun. Without that, the high temperature would easily turn all the magical plants in our research station to charcoal, or burn holes through some corner of the Ecological Membrane."

"The Ecological Membrane is being damaged constantly. Every time a breach occurs, water vapor and magical tides leak out. As you can see, many wizards are always patching the Ecological Membrane. That has become one of the most common tasks for our Group 2."

Locke asked Wizard Cis, "Wizard Cis, do all the research stations in this world have both an Ecological Membrane and Wizard Porcelain Cities?"

"The two ecological bases we passed earlier seemed to have both of those large-scale installations as well."

Wizard Cis said, "Of course. Without them, how would you maintain the magical tide concentration gradient and humidity inside a base, or regulate the level of light exposure?"

"So the Ecological Membrane is absolutely essential, and the Wizard Porcelain Cities are as well. The Ecological Membrane is a must for everyone, naturally, but some wizard organizations in this world use things other than Wizard Porcelain Cities to block the sunlight. They might use magical devices instead, for instance. But the advantage of using witch porcelain is that it can both block sunlight and generate energy at the same time."

Wizard Cis passed straight through the Ecological Membrane.

Locke hesitated for a moment, then rode his Large Green Leaf Dragon Sparrow and flew into it.

Rather than striking something solid as he had expected, Locke passed through the Ecological Membrane as though passing through open air.

He glanced back at the Ecological Membrane with curiosity. "What a remarkable thing. Truly a masterwork from the alchemists."

The magical tide concentration gradient inside the membrane was entirely different from that outside it, and so was the weather.

Outside the membrane, temperatures were in the extreme range of over a hundred degrees Celsius, while inside the temperature was only around forty degrees, with considerable moisture in the air.

Most importantly, the magical tide concentration gradient was high, roughly on par with the level found in the southeastern quadrant.

As a result, the ground was blanketed in magical plants growing beneath irrigation pipelines.

Many wizard apprentices were at work on the ground below.

Wizard Cis said, "In this Dune Plane, the one thing that has no scarcity is energy. There's plenty of solar power, after all."

"Witch porcelain can convert it into magical tides. So, contrary to what you might have expected, in this plane we are actually not short on magical energy at all."

"What we are lacking is something else entirely, and it has become the major crisis facing Group 2 recently."

Locke, Witch Mason, and the others looked toward Wizard Cis.

Wizard Cis landed on the ground, and all four followed suit.

At the same time, the wizard apprentices working on the ground immediately came over to greet them upon seeing Wizard Cis and the others.

"Good day, Wizard Cis, sir..."

"Good day, Teacher Augustine, good day, Teacher Mason..."

"Oh, I didn't realize Teacher Augustine would be coming to our base as well."

Because of the Spell Combat Tournament, many of Golden Crown Mountain's wizard apprentices had come to know Locke to some degree.

At that moment, a first-rank female wizard apprentice with a magical pressure of 700 covered her mouth, looking as though she had just spotted her idol.

She was holding a grafting knife and working in a magical field, grafting a variety of desert rose.

She whispered to another female first-class wizard apprentice beside her, "I've been wanting to attend one of Teacher Augustine's open lectures for a long time. But unfortunately, Teacher Augustine has never given any public lectures."

The other wizard apprentice whispered back, "Even if he did, we probably couldn't get a spot. The registration would definitely attract huge numbers, and we're stuck here in the Dune Plane with limited time to return to the main material plane."

"Teacher Augustine is the champion of the Spell Combat Tournament. If he ever opened a course, registration would fill up instantly, I'd imagine."

Wizard Cis led Locke and the others toward the suspended stairway at the center of the research station. The five of them stepped onto it and rode it down underground.

Wizard Cis glanced at Locke with a smile and said, "It seems someone among us has become quite the celebrity. Even here in my Group 2 base, there are already admirers."

Locke gave a small cough.

The Spell Combat Tournament and the Cloud Marsh Cup had indeed brought him considerable recognition.

Witch Mason and Witch Freya both quietly stifled smiles.

Wizard Cis said, "As you've seen, my research station requires a great many wizard apprentices who can get work done. But the Dune Plane itself is simply not a suitable environment for apprentice-level wizards. Without the Ecological Membrane, the safety of those students could not be guaranteed at all."

"Even with it, things can still be quite dangerous."

"Because in this world, there are countless sandstorms that never cease..."

No sooner had Wizard Cis finished speaking than one of the Wizard Porcelain Cities high above the Ecological Membrane suddenly fired a magical energy cannon into the distance, dispersing a massive sandstorm that had been closing in from afar.

Wizard Cis said, "I had barely mentioned it before it happened. If a sandstorm gets close to our research station, it can worsen the Ecological Membrane's leakage problem and also affect the operation of the Wizard Porcelain Cities..."

"If the Ecological Membrane suffers serious damage, it could render our entire base completely non-functional."

"Therefore, those Wizard Porcelain Cities above also serve the purpose of monitoring the movement of nearby sandstorms and dispersing them before they get too close."

Wizard Cis said, "Before that system was in place, however, this world once experienced a tectonic tremor from its core that triggered a super sandstorm sweeping across half the plane."

"My research station suffered severe damage in that natural disaster, with tremendous financial losses. Fortunately, only one second-class wizard apprentice was killed. These people are the most precious assets of our academy."

"So the loss in terms of human talent was not as severe as it might have been. That is the reason we previously relocated the research station."

Wizard Cis looked at Locke and said, "But at the end of the day, those are all just minor inconveniences."

"The real trouble lies elsewhere."

Following the thread of Wizard Cis's remark, Locke asked, "Wizard Cis, what sort of trouble have you encountered?"

Wizard Cis stood on the suspended stairway, gestured at the magical fields surrounding them, and asked, "Locke, tell me, what crops are being grown in those magical fields?"

Locke paused to observe, then confirmed, "Most of them are rose-type magical plants."

Wizard Cis nodded and said, "In this world, my research station has no shortage of energy. But there are two things we lack. The first is water. The second is quality soil."

"So in this Dune World, there are three problems that need to be solved. The first is the source of water, the second is the source of soil, and the third is the source of air elements."

"Originally there were four problems. Magical tides were the fourth, but with the advent of the Wizard Porcelain City technology, magical tides are now not only no longer scarce in this world but actually quite abundant. We have mastered the solar witch porcelain technology that converts high temperatures into magical energy."

Wizard Cis said, "As for air elements, we have large numbers of magical plants on our end that can produce them. As long as the number of plants is sufficient, air elements are adequate, at least within the Ecological Membrane."

"So in truth, there are only two problems."

"First, water. Second, soil."

Locke gave a small nod. In fact, the moment the four of them had entered this plane, they had noticed that the atmospheric composition differed from that of the wizard world.

However, all four were full wizards, and their bodies had undergone certain modifications, so they were not as wholly dependent on air elements as ordinary life-forms.

Furthermore, the air in this plane still contained a degree of air element content, so breathing was not an issue.

As for why there were still some air elements present, this was likely related to the plane's overall elemental barrier still being largely intact. At least no catastrophic atmospheric escape had occurred.

Magical tides were simply a rarer resource than air, which was why the magical tides had drained away entirely while the air had not.

Moreover, Locke had observed earlier that large quantities of air elements were seeping up from underground. This was likely the world will of this plane making one last attempt to preserve what life remained.

The core of this world still appeared to retain some capacity to produce air elements, those materials essential to the sustaining of life.

This was perhaps the plane's final act of defiance.

In a sense, the arrival of wizard civilization upon this plane was nothing less than the descent of a savior.

No wonder he had felt not the slightest hostility or ill will upon entering this plane. Instead, he had sensed that what little world will remained was sending out an invitation and radiating something close to jubilation at his presence.

Wizard Cis said, "The soil, due to a lack of nutrients and the extreme heat, has been reduced to sand. However, once the Wizard Porcelain Cities have regulated the temperature, sand can slowly be transformed into soil provided there is enough water and magical plant humus, or fertilizer."

"The difference between sand and soil comes down to humus, along with a large array of microorganisms and other trace elements."

"So the final problem is water. And the problem I am currently facing is a shortage of water. As for why we are short on water..."

A faint expression of anger crossed Wizard Cis's face. "It has to do with that wretched Rose Council and the treacherous Storm Tower."

"Group 2 was once advancing steadily from one breakthrough to the next, publishing many top-tier journal articles every year."

"Furthermore, through cultivating desert roses, we formed a collaborative partnership with the Rose Council. Desert roses have very low water requirements, high economic value, excellent drought resistance, and when they die, they produce humus that converts sand into soil."

"It was truly a method that yielded exceptional returns with minimal investment."

"To combat desertification is to manage water. The plants we need most in Group 2 are those that demand as little water as possible while offering the highest possible economic value."

"Things were going very well for us. But then some wizards over at the Rose Council suddenly set their eyes on the modest returns we were generating from cultivating our various desert rose varieties..."

"They even joined forces with the Storm Tower to impose restrictions on me!"