Chapter 635: Three Bromeliad Varieties and Four Types of Fleshy Roots |
Another half month or so passed.
Using the two hundred thousand magic stones in sponsorship funds borrowed from Arthas, along with the ten mu of complimentary magical field space allocated to him by the Group 2 base and the assistance of the Synthesis Cube, Locke cultivated his first batches of tyrant-ization Big Snow Crown Bromeliads and Tyrant-enhanced Flame Bromeliads.
Locke looked at the two varieties of air bromeliads before him, now covered in Tyrant markings, their height unchanged but their width having undergone unusual alterations.
He harvested the seeds from the ordinary synthesized varieties of the Big Snow Crown Bromeliad and the Flame Bromeliad, sealed them away using spell scrolls, and with that, the seed harvest was complete.
All he needed to do was hand these seeds, along with the corresponding Type 2 Tyrant Element and cellular binding compounds, to Witch Scarlett for production in a colonial world.
The Tyrant-enhanced Big Snow Crown Bromeliad had the overall shape of an ice skate. Wherever it made contact, frost would spread, transforming the surface into ice. At its base were specialized ice-blue fleshy roots, with spiral deflection channels running along both sides that could channel ice energy into a specialized propulsive vortex.
The Big Snow Crown Bromeliad already possessed distinctive fleshy roots to begin with. Locke had further enhanced their vortex characteristics through the Synthesis Cube, and with the comprehensive strengthening provided by the Type 2 Tyrant Element, the prototype of a pure magical plant wizard shoe was complete.
The Tyrant-enhanced Flame Bromeliad was in fact a subspecies of the Big Snow Crown Bromeliad. The entire Flame Bromeliad resembled a shoe, only the fleshy root portion was shaped like a jet nozzle, and the inside of the fleshy root could discharge magical flames outward, produced from a mixture of naturally-occurring magical force structure components.
Both bromeliads could be said to have inherent potential in their fleshy roots for development into wizard shoes, making them naturally excellent candidates for the purpose. They were technical reserves Locke had accumulated in the course of his fundamental research.
But at the end of the day, these tools had only served to speed up the process. If he had originally needed a year to complete the development, he now needed less than a month.
The true accumulation had long since been built up through his research into bromeliad magical plants and Tyrant Element.
Witch Mason walked over to Locke's side and looked at the magical field planted with the two bromeliad varieties. "Fleshy roots are a special product that forms when plant roots swell and thicken by storing large quantities of water and nutrients. I never imagined they could be modified and developed into propulsion nozzles for magical plant wizard shoes."
"Team Leader, what an unusual idea."
Locke said, "It isn't really that unusual an idea on my part. Many wizards have had similar thoughts. They just passed through their minds in a flash without ever being pursued."
"Or they were suppressed by the magical weavers and simply never dared to enter the wizard shoe field at all."
"I am only doing this without hesitation because of who I am. I don't need to consider nearly as many things as other wizards do."
When he thought about it, earning a place under Witch Yekaterina's tutelage through the Cloud Marsh Cup had truly been an excellent springboard for him.
If not for that, he would likely have been hauled before the wizard tribunal by the magical weavers the moment he released his first pair of wizard shoes. He might very well have been arrested by witch hunters and thrown into wizard prison by now.
Locke had looked into similar cases before and found that the magical weavers of the Rose Council, along with some from the various weaving workshops, were genuinely capable of doing exactly that.
How different things were now, with those magical weavers only daring to send him incoherent ranting messages through private channels on the water hyacinth network.
This made Locke realize something.
Some money is touchable only because you have the standing to touch it.
The ease with which he was earning money now was due in large part to the fact that he was a researcher at Golden Crown Mountain's Advanced Origin Academy.
And Throne Yekaterina was his collaborating mentor.
If he were an ordinary full wizard, that money would not be his to touch.
By the same logic, if he were already a Second Circle wizard, his earning speed would only be faster, and Arthas would grant him even greater privileges.
The logic of doing business in the wizard world was in fact entirely different from the logic of business in his previous life.
In his previous life, whatever else one might say, there had been no rigid hierarchy openly displayed for all to see. But in this wizard world, whether you were a First Circle wizard, a Second Circle wizard, or a Third Circle wizard was plain for anyone to see at a glance.
What academic positions you held was equally transparent.
Therefore, the amount of money one could earn was to a great extent constrained by one's current magical rank and academic position.
Locke said, "Air bromeliads do not ordinarily have proper roots to speak of, but the Big Snow Crown Bromeliad, as a mutated variety, developed specialized fleshy roots. Continuing down this line of development is enough to produce an entire product series under the Augustus brand."
"In the future, more air bromeliad magical plants with fleshy roots can be cultivated into wizard shoes."
Witch Mason pressed her lips together and said, "That said, Team Leader, both Group 2 leader Wizard Cis and the Throne sent us here to conduct research on the drought-resistance mechanisms of magical plants."
"What you're doing is using public resources for private purposes!"
Locke looked at Witch Mason and said, "Oh? Mason, are you going to report me?"
Witch Mason smiled and said, "Of course not. When all is said and done, they are only my superiors. The Team Leader is my friend. Besides, all of us are fairly strapped for funds. Using the lab facilities to do a little personal research on the side is the most ordinary thing in the world."
Witch Mason smiled and said, "Team Leader, I'll go see to my own work then. You carry on."
Locke looked at Witch Mason and said, "Oh, right. I may not be in the lab next month. Help me carry on the research here while I'm away."
"You can try cultivating the drought-resistance mechanisms of these two magical plant varieties on my behalf. Whatever happens, we need to at least keep up appearances, enough for people to feel our work has some relation to the overall direction of Group 2's research station."
Witch Mason nodded. "Understood, Team Leader."
After Witch Mason left, Locke retrieved from the Synthesis Cube an air bromeliad that had been synthesized from two Great Snow Mountain Bromeliads and one Lightning Stone.
This wizard-shoe-shaped air bromeliad crackled with arcs of electricity all around it, and at its base was a swollen fleshy root resembling a rail strip.
'Grade 8 Synthesized Item: Lightning Bromeliad.'
'A subspecies of the Great Snow Mountain Bromeliad. The base features a re-evolved fleshy root capable of storing large quantities of energy and moisture, along with multiple naturally-occurring magical force structure components of the lightning type, which can be discharged through the metamorphosed fleshy root to provide wizards with high-speed movement capability.'
Locke read through the description and gave a small nod. "The bromeliads I currently have in hand are primarily based on two conceptual directions. The first is the special atavistic fleshy root of the Great Snow Mountain Bromeliad, converted into a propulsion device."
"The second is the mimicry musculature of the Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad, which provides wizards with movement capability through rebound force."
"Frankly, the modest abilities of these bromeliads in their original state, even when made into wizard shoes, would not be enough to compare in performance with those of the magical weavers. But... after I enhanced all of them with Type 2 Tyrant Element, that changed."
"That way, a certain performance advantage is achievable. Combined with my personal brand advantage, it is enough to carve out a path in the wizard shoe field."
Locke suddenly thought of something and said, "Right."
He walked back to his workstation and looked through the materials. "Fleshy roots are themselves a type of energy-locking structure, though a common one among magical plant energy-locking structures."
Leafing through Group 2's materials, Locke found that Group 2 had extensive documentation on fleshy roots of various magical plants, information that had been compiled over a thousand years.
Fleshy roots were themselves a product of plants evolving to cope with scenarios involving intermittent resource scarcity.
"An energy-locking structure organ is an organ that magical plants develop for the efficient utilization of magical energy in response to resource scarcity," Locke said to himself. "This also means that certain energy-locking structure organs, when magical energy is abundant, are able to make even better use of that magical energy."
"Therefore, making good use of energy-locking structures is key to further developing my wizard shoes."
"Research in this direction is enormously helpful to me. I hope to discover more energy-locking structures, though that depends on luck. For now, if I can thoroughly understand the fleshy root alone, that would already be more than sufficient for my purposes."
Locke nodded. "Right. Then I can arrange for the three of them, Witch Mason and the others, along with their students, to conduct drought stress experiments on the fleshy roots of my three air bromeliad varieties and research the corresponding mechanisms."
All were fleshy roots, yet there were still hundreds of specific subcategories within them.
Locke also wanted to know the specific characteristics of the fleshy roots of the three air bromeliad varieties he was currently prioritizing.
'Which means that developing a new energy-locking structure would be very beneficial to my wizard shoe enterprise,' Locke thought.
He had no intention of venturing into magical robes, wizard gloves, or wizard hats.
The main reason was that it was best for a person to do one thing well before moving on to the next.
There was also the fact that making wizard shoes had already made enough enemies. If he expanded further, he might truly end up at odds with every magical weaver in existence.
Just the wizard shoe field alone contained more than a dozen well-known wizard shoe brands, hundreds of lesser-known ones, and an entire interconnected chain of related industries.
For him to involve himself in wizard shoes was tantamount to offending all of those parties directly.
After all, in their eyes, he, a breeder, had no business invading their domain.
Each of them was seething inwardly, grinding their teeth at him, yet could only endure it out of respect for his standing.
Better to focus on building a proper wizard shoe brand first, and think about other things later.
Or wait until another good opportunity presented itself before making a move.
Locke mapped out his research plan for after his departure, writing out the tasks for Witch Mason and the other two in a list. "According to Group 2's current materials, fleshy roots are divided into four major categories."
"Tuberous roots, tuberous stem roots, bulbous roots, and rhizomes."
"Within the First Circle, there are a total of 312 categories of magical plants that possess fleshy roots."
"The fleshy roots of those 312 types of magical plants all fall under one of these four categories, yet each is subtly different. I want Witch Mason to use the three Grand Magic mirrors and other equipment to examine the specific characteristics of the fleshy roots of the three bromeliad varieties."
"Sample collection and mapping, scanning of macro- and micro-structure, and osmotic pressure within cells."
"Once those three steps are complete, carry out grouped drought stress experiments, measuring the rate of root system shrinkage and the recovery index after rehydration..."
"Also use the three Grand Magic mirrors to search for the internal reactive mechanisms these bromeliads use to cope with drought, the changes in their internal micro-structures, and the changes in internal naturally-occurring magical force structure components..."
Locke thought to himself, 'If I can become thoroughly familiar with the characteristics and all the mechanisms of the fleshy roots of these three bromeliad varieties, it may be possible to develop even better wizard shoes.'
'It will also be helpful for my synthesis work.'
Locke tidied up, then left his workstation, took the seeds, used the teleportation gate on the thirtieth underground level of the research station to return to Little Peach Mountain, boarded the cloud whale, and headed to one of Arthas's plantations at the foot of the mountain.
There he found Witch Scarlett and handed her the seeds he had collected. "Take these to the colonial world to be cultivated. You can also collaborate with those alchemists from before. Go ahead and contact them yourself."
"I'll be occupied for the next while. I likely won't be able to return to Golden Crown Mountain for about a month."
Witch Scarlett nodded thoughtfully and took the two cloth bags from Locke, along with two design blueprints for the wizard shoes.
"In that case, I will list these two products directly on Arthas on your behalf."
"I hope that when you return in a little over a month, you will come back to good news. That works well, actually. We can release the second and third pairs of wizard shoes back to back. But regarding the procurement wizard shoes we discussed earlier, have you had any ideas on that front?"
Locke shook his head. "I have looked over the requirements for the demon realm war. They are very demanding. Our wizard shoes are of decent quality, but even after comprehensive enhancement with Type 2 Tyrant Element, they cannot claim to compete in quality with the very top wizard shoe brands."
"The designs that Golden Crown Mountain has most commonly used in previous external bids have been those from the two major brands, Melechi Magic Step and Solas Light Foot, also known as 30K, and at times designs produced internally by Second Circle breeders within the academy."
"In other words, for us to surpass the designs of those three, it will be very difficult," Locke said. "I expect that even I can only make a best attempt. And at the moment I only have a rough direction in mind."
"Specifically, using the energy-locking structure organs that plants develop when faced with a shortage of energy and water."
Locke said, "But my research on fleshy roots is still fairly superficial at this stage. If I deepen my research in this area, I should be able to further improve the quality of products in this direction. Similarly, I have reviewed the energy-locking structures documented across 57 categories of First Circle magical plant organs discovered so far."
"At present, none of them are of great help to my wizard shoe work, with the possible exception of the special energy-locking structure found in cotyledons."
In truth, the mimicry musculature of the Giant Hummingbird Bromeliad was also a type of energy-locking structure, belonging to a category known as transpiration-flow pulsating xylem vessels.
Cotyledons were a part of a plant seed, an organ structure that provided and absorbed energy for the plant seed in its early stage.
In any case, after engaging with Group 2's materials, Locke had found that a substantial portion of Group 2's research focus was on energy-locking structure organs.
In particular, they were focused on excavating the applications and structures of existing energy-locking structure organs, along with the naturally-occurring magical force structure components they contained.
As a result, over the past half month of reading materials, he had genuinely made considerable progress in this field.
Witch Scarlett smiled and said, "Having a direction is what matters. Please give it your best try. But don't put too much pressure on yourself."
"Even without the demon realm war, just the fact that you are a participant in the Planar Conquest Competition gives our wizard shoe brand more than enough prestige."
Locke gave a small nod. "Witch Scarlett, I leave these two products in your hands to manage."
As for the research into energy-locking structures, he still had much work to do.
The special adaptive evolutions that plants developed in response to drought were genuinely fascinating.
In the course of this research, his horizons had been broadened considerably, and he had gained knowledge he had never possessed before.
And to take wizard shoe performance one step further, it seemed the best approach was to deepen his understanding of the existing research on energy-locking structures.
Or better still, to find even more efficient energy-locking structures.
...
Inside Group 2's research station in the Dune Plane, Witch Mason, Witch Freya, and Wizard Barrett gathered together.
Witch Mason said, "So that is how things stand. Our little boss has matters to attend to for the time being, which means the next month or more is on us."
"We can try to piece together his line of thinking and attempt to submit the Tier 1 project grant application on his behalf."
Witch Freya's eyes lit up. "If it gets approved, the Team Leader will certainly be very pleased, and he will think more highly of the three of us."
Wizard Barrett said quietly, "Is it really that easy? The research on fleshy root energy-locking structures is already well-established. Getting approval for a Tier 2 or Tier 3 grant on that basis would be straightforward. But submitting it for a Tier 1, I'm not sure that will work."
Witch Mason held up the materials Locke had given her and said, "With this much high-quality preliminary experimental data from the boss, why would it not work?"
"We should also have some faith in our own abilities."
Witch Mason's expression suddenly shifted slightly, as a wave of unusual magical pressure bore down from somewhere above the thirtieth level of the research station, pressing down upon everyone.
Witch Freya and Wizard Barrett both let out a muffled grunt.
From a workstation not far away came the sound of a wizard exclaiming in surprise and delight, "Senior Brother is back!"
"Has Wizard Zalan Bailey become a Second Circle wizard? Good heavens, this is his fifth year in the ordinary Origin Academy, isn't it? To think he has surpassed even the researchers of the Advanced Origin Academy and become a Second Circle wizard ahead of them all."
"Now that Wizard Zalan Bailey has become a Second Circle wizard, he has the standing to compete for the Special Sponsorship Project. Not only that, Group 2's research resources will naturally be reallocated toward this Second Circle wizard. What bad luck for the researcher who just joined our Advanced Origin Academy. He happened to arrive right as our Senior Brother returned to Group 2!"
Inside Wizard Cis's office, a look of surprised delight crossed Wizard Cis's face. "Zalan Bailey has become a Second Circle wizard? Excellent. Truly excellent."
"I had barely acquired Locke Augustine's team, and now I have gained another Second Circle wizard member."
"This is like having wings added to a tiger."
"Rose Council, Storm Tower, this war of attrition, we still have plenty of fight left in us!"
At that moment, at their workstations in the common workspace, Witch Mason, Wizard Barrett, and Witch Freya all sensed that the magical pressure of the wizard called Zalan Bailey seemed to be deliberately targeting them. The magical pressure bearing down on their area of the room was noticeably heavier than elsewhere.
Yet in the very next instant, the moment the other party apparently detected that Locke Augustine's magical pressure was not present among them, it vanished entirely.
Witch Freya raised an eyebrow. "That one comes with ill intent."
Wizard Barrett said, "He sees the boss as a threat. That is why."
Witch Mason let out a cold laugh. "Let him be. Would he actually dare to make a move? Zalan Bailey... this person has not been approached by the Academic Committee, the Council of Elders, or anyone from the Executive Patrol Group. That can only mean one thing: his value is limited."
"The Council of Elders and Academic Committee not approaching him is one thing, but by rights the Executive Patrol Group should have reached out to him. Yet I have heard nothing about that. I suspect this so-called Senior Brother of Group 2 has a problem with his Grand Magic."