20demayo Chapter 623: The Sky Garden Plan
Chapter 623: The Sky Garden Plan
The remaining black wizards of the Twin Demon Realm all fled back into the Twin Demon Realm, and those who were left behind were killed by Witch Yekaterina's Grand Magic.The Third Circle wizards from the Council of Elders, the Executive Patrol Group, and the Academic Committee gathered one by one around Witch Yekaterina, and it was also the first time Locke had ever seen this many of Golden Crown Mountain's upper echelon all in one place.
The Third Circle wizards expressed their gratitude to Witch Yekaterina for protecting Cloud Arena.
However, one Third Circle wizard from the Council of Elders suddenly asked, "Lady Throne, why did you ease up on the beast tide's offensive at the very end, when you were close to annihilating them entirely, and allow some of the Twin Demon Realm's more powerful wizards to escape?"
"Those black wizards who got away, who knows how many of our white wizards they will kill in future demon realm wars. You shouldn't have let them go."
Witch Yekaterina gave him a cold glance but said nothing herself. Instead, one of her former students, an ordinary Third Circle wizard from the Academic Committee, turned and rebuked him sharply. "You wizards of the Council of Elders failed to detect the black wizards' plan in advance, and then just now you voluntarily abandoned the pursuit of the black wizards in order to compete for the Night Meteor."
"Lady Throne, on the other hand, gave up the opportunity to record the Night Meteor in order to chase the black wizards. Everyone here witnessed that contribution."
Quite a few Third Circle wizards nodded repeatedly, all acknowledging Witch Yekaterina's contribution.
A Third Circle wizard who had always maintained a neutral stance suddenly spoke up. "I think Witch Yekaterina should not merely serve as an ordinary committee member of the Academic Committee. She should serve as Vice President and continue to contribute her efforts."
Third Circle wizards were exceptionally shrewd individuals. At that moment, they exchanged glances with one another, each reading the surprise in the other's eyes.
Because the Third Circle wizard who had just spoken was one who had been famous all along for not joining any faction, known as a neutral wizard.
That even such a figure had opened his mouth to speak on Witch Yekaterina's behalf was remarkable.
Combined with the fact that Witch Yekaterina had just rendered great service, not a single Third Circle wizard raised any objection, and some even stepped forward to lend their support.
The wizards of the Academic Committee, seeing this unfold, had no choice but to go along with Witch Yekaterina.
The position of Vice President of Golden Crown Mountain's Academic Committee required very high seniority, something Witch Yekaterina had not yet quite reached under ordinary circumstances, yet at this moment she obtained the position with remarkable speed.
At the same time, Witch Yekaterina's student spoke up again. "This time, it should be our Academic Committee's wizards who have secured the opportunity to participate in the Plane Conquest Competition. Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that the direction of Golden Crown Mountain's development over the next hundred years will still be guided by our Academic Committee."
Director Gaia nodded with satisfaction. "Very good. Since our Academic Committee has won, then going forward we will continue channeling our resources into the fields of breeding and botany."
This was well received by the people of the Executive Patrol Group as well.
The only ones who were unhappy were the Third Circle wizards of the Council of Elders.
The Third Circle wizards of the Council of Elders all wore dark expressions. Their trump card, Antoine, had unexpectedly been defeated by a talented First Circle wizard from some small place who had only just enrolled in the Academic Committee that year.
Could it truly be that in this world, the waves behind really do drive the waves before them forward?
At that moment, these Council of Elders' Third Circle wizards all harbored a degree of suspicion that Locke too was a trump card secretly cultivated by the Academic Committee from the outside world.
Director Gaia glanced at Witch Yekaterina and said, "In that case, let us establish a new commercial street dedicated to magical plant related industries."
Witch Yekaterina spoke up at the right moment. "Director, I previously proposed that we could establish a sky garden representing an industry worth over a billion magic stones, and build the highest grade magical plant garden that belongs exclusively to our academy."
"By doing so, we would certainly be able to bring the greatest possible development to Golden Crown Mountain's breeding studies."
"Moreover, a magical plant garden has many wonderful applications, a fact already demonstrated by the only publicly available sky garden currently in Cloud Marsh Wetland. Our Golden Crown Mountain ought to have a sky garden of its own, one that could further deepen our academy's foundations and strengthen our advantages in the fields of breeding and efficient agriculture."
Witch Yekaterina continued, "A sky garden can cultivate special magical plants, and once we have our own sky garden, no other wizard academy across the entire Golden Crown Mountain district will be able to keep up with us in the field of breeding. They will have to pray for permission just to use ours."
"I believe this is far more useful than establishing a commercial street."
At this, the wizards of both the Academic Committee and the Executive Patrol Group stepped forward one after another to take sides, expressing their support.
"I fully agree with what Lady Throne has said. A sky garden can also be used as an enormous meteorological weapon, which would be extremely useful in the five major external wars!"
"Beyond that, a sky garden offers Golden Crown Mountain another benefit, which is that it can expand the total area of magical fields near Golden Crown Mountain out of thin air. Everyone knows how precious every inch of land on our Golden Crown Mountain is, and many wizards' research has been held back precisely because of the limited magical field area."
"If a sky garden were to create additional magical fields in midair, how greatly would that relieve the pressure on Golden Crown Mountain's land!"
"Now that you put it that way, that's absolutely right. It seems the value for investment in building a sky garden near Golden Crown Mountain is very high. A sky garden could also improve our utilization of sunlight..."
"There are several experiments of mine that genuinely do require a sky garden to conduct..."
Director Gaia observed this scene and immediately grasped the extent of Witch Yekaterina's influence on Golden Crown Mountain.
The people of the Council of Elders were stunned.
Because just now, even some of their own Council of Elders had spoken up in favor of the sky garden plan.
As for the Executive Patrol Group, many wizards among them also had a genuine need for a sky garden to conduct their experiments. And when it came to the public sky garden, even the research groups of Third Circle wizards had to wait in line for a long time just to secure a spot.
So they too supported the sky garden plan.
Director Gaia said, "Very well. Since everyone is unanimously in support of the sky garden plan proposed by Witch Yekaterina, I have no reason to refuse."
"The largest project Golden Crown Mountain will undertake going forward will be... the Sky Garden."
"Witch Yekaterina, since this project was your proposal, you will lead and oversee the entire project."
Witch Yekaterina curled the corner of her lips. She said, "Director, please set your mind at ease. I will see to it that Golden Crown Mountain has a sky garden of its very own as soon as possible."
Director Gaia gave Witch Yekaterina a long, deep look. "Of course, I have complete confidence in your abilities. It has always been this way. Whatever you set your mind to, there has never been anything you couldn't accomplish."
"By the way, your student also performed very impressively in the competition this time."
"Pass along a word from me to him. Congratulations on winning the championship."
Locke, standing nearby, was at something of a loss.
He was right there beside them, so why did a message need to be passed along?
But the Director was, after all, the highest authority on Golden Crown Mountain. It was only natural to maintain a certain sense of distance from a young First Circle wizard.
Once all the Third Circle wizards had departed, Witch Yekaterina glanced at Locke once, then also took her leave.
At the same time, Director Gaia's voice rang out across Cloud Arena. "The demon realm war has ended. The competition will now resume."
"Wizards who were injured during this sudden incident will receive free treatment..."
Since Antoine had conceded on his own, Locke was counted as having defeated him.
As for the five matches that followed, Locke didn't have to put in much effort at all. His battle with Antoine had already left an indelible impression on the hearts of every First Circle wizard present, and so Locke won each match with ease.
Before long, all the matches had concluded, and Locke claimed the championship exactly as expected.
On the podium, Locke stood as champion, Antoine as runner-up, and Witch Juliana as third place. The three of them stood on the podium together and received the presentation of wizard badges.
After the ceremony ended, Antoine took one look at Locke and turned to leave.
Witch Juliana said to Locke, "Wizard Augustine, the first time I heard of you was actually from Daniel."
"Daniel said you were a very good person."
"Having seen you at this competition, I can say that is indeed the case."
Locke was briefly surprised, then said to Witch Juliana, "Speaking of which, how is Daniel doing these days?"
"I saw that a product he released, the Strike Trajectory Tracking Mist, has been selling very well. It's ranked tenth."
It was a special mist technology that could visually trace the trajectory of a moving object using mist, and by combining it with the characteristics of divination spirit mist, it could identify the most optimal trajectory, striking angle, and even running posture. Because of this, it had sold remarkably well during the Sports Festival.
It had even made the overall sales ranking chart.
In terms of quality, it was even higher than his own wizard shoes. The fact that his wizard shoes had ranked first on the sales chart this time around wasn't because their quality was truly that extraordinary or their function that universally beloved.
It was simply because his self-promotion had been far too successful.
In a certain sense, he was something of a marketing genius too, having used his status as champion to directly propel his first wizard shoes design to heights it otherwise would never have reached.
But Daniel, this time around, appeared to have genuinely turned his life around through the special mist he had developed. He might even manage to earn a tidy sum from it.
As long as there was money, he could keep the funded project going without falling into a vicious cycle.
Witch Juliana smiled and said, "Of course. He successfully escaped his debt crisis. I lent him a little money before, but it looks like he'll be able to pay me back now."
Locke nodded. "That's good to hear."
"I hadn't seen him in a while recently. I was starting to wonder if he had given up."
Witch Juliana smiled and said, "He's not the kind of person who gives up so easily."
At this point, the Sports Festival drew to a close amid the grandeur of its various award ceremonies, and the assembled wizards boarded void warships and prepared to depart from Cloud Arena.
Just as Locke was preparing to leave Cloud Arena, he noticed Witch Camilla nearby with a look of sadness on her face, her eyes glistening as though on the verge of tears.
Beside her was a witch who appeared to be in a daze.
Locke glanced at her and noticed that this witch bore a strong resemblance to Witch Camilla.
The two of them happened to be heading in the same direction, making their way to board a void warship docked at the same stop.
Locke looked at the witch for a moment, hesitated, then said, "Camilla, this person is..."
Witch Camilla let out a sigh. "This is my twin sister, Zelia. She always had very poor natural talent. Then, half a year ago, she suddenly became a full wizard, and I was genuinely overjoyed. This time I took the initiative to buy her a seat and brought her here to broaden her horizons. I never imagined I would end up bringing harm to her."
"Those wretched fire-stealers from the Twin Demon Realm, for reasons I don't understand, targeted my sister, who is just an ordinary First Circle wizard. They used a special ritual to induce her into a resonance state, then harvested most of her resonance. By the time I arrived, she had already become like this, in a daze and barely responsive. She is still technically a First Circle wizard, but for some reason her soul seems as though a piece of it is missing. Her intellect and memory are intact, but her reactions are very slow, she can no longer speak, and she just stares blankly."
"Like a person being reduced to an animal."
Locke looked at the scene and considered it carefully. Recently, in his efforts to pass the fourth Ladder and to develop his spiritual power, his skill in potion studies had advanced rapidly. By observing her condition, he confirmed something. "It's likely that her soul is incomplete."
"And specifically, the part of the soul connected to self-awareness is what's been damaged."
"It's like a lower-level creature gradually evolving into a higher-level one. In this world, the soul also has an evolutionary history. In the beginning there was no soul, only the soul's precursor, the spirit essence."
"After that came the simple souls of primitive creatures, followed by souls with the capacity for logical reasoning. The human soul is a very high-level form of soul, but it seems the part of your friend that evolved last is... damaged."
"This is what has caused her to regress from human to animal."
Witch Camilla became agitated. "You have a way to fix this? Then why did those potion masters who came over just now to treat my sister all shake their heads? Even a Second Circle potion master said she couldn't be cured."
Locke said, "It's because I study abyssal alchemy, and abyssal alchemy happens to have a fairly deep understanding of the soul."
"That's how I know this."
"This problem is genuinely very difficult to treat. So that Second Circle potion master was not brushing you off. It simply falls outside the scope of conventional potion studies treatment."
"It would be perfectly natural for him to be unable to determine the nature of your sister's condition."
Locke said, "Allowing your sister to regain that portion of her human soul should be able to treat the problem of part of her soul having been seized by the black wizards."
"But I honestly don't have the ability to treat it myself..."
"Oh, by the way, I currently owe you a hundred thousand magic stones."
"Tomorrow I'll have my student bring you ten magic crystal cards. That's payment for the four pieces of witch porcelain you gave me."
Witch Camilla fell into deep thought. Her mind drifted to the Dragon Viewing Peach, one of Golden Crown Mountain's twelve specialty peaches.
Having her sister eat a Dragon Viewing Peach might be able to restore the missing portion of her humanity.
But something like that could only be looked into once she returned to Magic Pivot City, to ask whether Magic Pivot City had any way of arranging a trade with Golden Crown Mountain.
The Dragon Viewing Peach was an important specialty exclusive to Golden Crown Mountain, and she genuinely didn't know whether Magic Pivot City would be able to obtain one from them.
Witch Camilla gave Locke a grateful look. "Thank you, Locke."
"I really owe you one this time."
Locke said, "Thank you for giving me those four pieces of witch porcelain when I needed them."
Locke gave her a nod, and then the two parted ways. Locke boarded the void warship and headed back down toward the ground.
Tomorrow he still needed to report promptly to Research Group 2, learn about the group's research content, and the abyss exploration was also fast approaching.
In the near term, he needed to finalize a project application for a Tier 1 project fund as soon as possible.
On top of that, before the abyss exploration began, he needed to take stock of everything he had recently gained, and to give serious thought to the blueprint for his own Grand Magic!