Chapter 443: Grafting Animals and Plants
The next day, after finishing his meditation, Locke entered the Super-grade Laboratory again to look up information and use the Magic Power Resonance Cultivation Method to direct the mutation of the Chain Magic Vine, aiming to further enhance its abilities.
During this process, Locke answered questions from several students. He spoke to Leopold, who had just obtained his Formal Breeder certificate this year, reached 800 mana last month, and was currently a capable assistant in the laboratory: "The question you raised about using the Grafting Cultivation Method to graft animals and plants is indeed significant, as it is a subject of study for First Ring Breeders."
"By using the First Ring Grafting Healing Technique, one can graft part of an animal's bloodline essence onto a plant, creating a special type of plant."
Locke added, "But the side effects of doing so are also very significant."
Locke thought for a moment and decided to give Leopold a demonstration. Leopold's mana fluctuations had already reached 800; he was very competent and served as a group leader among the Wizard Apprentices.
Locke reached out, and an apprentice-level subspecies of the Chain Magic Vine landed in his hand. Simultaneously, Locke took out a glass bottle containing Wolf Spider bloodline essence from his astral ring.
Next, Locke cut the subspecies magic vine, opened the bottle of Wolf Spider essence, and grafted the two together, while simultaneously using the First Ring Grafting Healing Technique.
Leopold watched this scene in astonishment. He hadn't expected that the First Ring Grafting Healing Technique could achieve such a feat.
Soon, the subspecies magic vine absorbed the Wolf Spider essence, and the entire vine underwent some morphological changes.
When Locke released the subspecies magic vine, it actually turned and attacked Leopold, who was standing nearby. Strengthened by the Wolf Spider, the magic vine moved so fast that Leopold couldn't react at all; before he could chant any defensive spells, the vine was already in front of him, about to punch a hole in his forehead.
Leopold's face turned pale with fright, but in the next instant, Locke reached out his left hand, grabbed the magic vine, and with a slight squeeze, the entire vine exploded.
Leopold panted heavily. "Wizard Augustine, that magic plant... went on a Rampage... it went berserk..."
Locke nodded slightly. "The bloodline essence of magical creatures is too different for magic plants. Even with the forced use of Grafting Healing, it's usually more difficult than grafting between plants."
"Furthermore, when a magic plant is combined with bloodline essence, a 'Rampage' phenomenon easily occurs. This is because there are several special factors within bloodline essence that plant essence lacks, which were originally used to stabilize the body and handle the intensely changing magical energy of a magical creature. magic plants, which remain mostly stationary, do not need those factors. But once grafted, the magic plant acquires them, leading to the Rampage we just saw."
"Once a magic plant goes on a Rampage, it often exhibits power it didn't previously possess," Locke said. "But it also means the magic plant is heading toward its own destruction, along with everything around it."
Leopold asked in confusion, "But Barbara the Witch and Wizard Montgomery are still performing grafts between magical creatures and magic plants..."
Locke nodded and said, "Sometimes, to solve difficult problems, grafting magic plants with magical creatures can bring unexpected surprises. However, this requires extensive grafting experience. Moreover, Barbara the Witch is a wizard of Bloodline Studies; it's only with her guidance that Wizard Montgomery can perform such grafts."
"Alright, Leopold, that's all for the answers to your questions today."
Leopold bowed to Locke. "Thank you for your guidance, Teacher Locke. After your instruction, I have a better understanding of the Grafting Cultivation Method. I hope I can be of help to our research group in the future."
Locke nodded.
Leopold also came from a Commoner Wizard background. Before joining his research group, he had been a ghostwriter for several direct-line First-Class Wizard Apprentices of the Plutarch Family.
He had heard that Leopold even ghostwrote articles for George Plutarch.
Since joining his research group, he had stopped those activities.
However, after Leopold's mana reached 800, his Advancement Potion went into the hands of his original wizard mentor. After all, Locke held no teaching position and was not his actual wizard mentor.
And while Leopold worked in Locke's group, he had completely stopped doing work for his original mentor's group.
The problem was, if he wanted to get the Advancement Potion—or even have a hope of getting it—he would have to work like a slave for his original mentor; otherwise, he would definitely never receive it.
Locke didn't know what Leopold was thinking. Since reaching 800 mana, he hadn't meditated much over the past few days, instead working diligently in the group, showing no anxiety at all about the Advancement Potion.
Leopold bowed to Locke and said, "Teacher Locke, I've finished my experimental work for today. I'd like to return to the dormitory to look up some materials."
Locke nodded. "Mhm, alright. That's up to you."
"Remember to organize the data on the magic plant subspecies we've developed recently and send a copy to all the One-Ring Wizards, including me."
"Understood, Teacher Locke." Leopold bowed again and left.
Locke looked up at Leopold's departing back and frowned slightly. If a student like Leopold were in an outside Wizard Land, he would have already received an Advancement Potion, and his wizard mentor would be urging him to advance to a One-Ring Wizard as soon as possible.
Every wizard mentor who teaches a student to become a Formal Wizard gains immense benefits.
Not just the implicit benefits of networking, but also reputation, prestige, resource applications, and more student quotas—all of these follow.
Furthermore, for every Formal Wizard trained, the White Wizard Association provides special rewards. These rewards are all tied to teaching positions. Originally, as long as the system remained effective, wizard mentors would want to have more Formal Wizard students under them.
But the reward system in the Six Towers Land has completely collapsed, falling entirely under the control of family wizards. Naturally, they don't care whether the students under them can become Formal Wizards.
Instead, they suppress their students to prevent them from escaping their control and ceasing to work for them once they become Formal Wizards.
Locke frowned. Advancement Potions are strictly confidential supplies of the White Wizard Association and are banned from the market, so he couldn't obtain one for Leopold.
According to the rules, Leopold's potion would be issued to his teacher first, so Locke really had no way around it.
Locke snapped back to reality and focused his attention on the small group on the grey mist slate. Since joining the group, he had been checking the chat content frequently and found that the tenth-ranked research group was indeed on the verge of disbanding.
He was a wizard from Dragonfall Land. Although that Wizard Land was high-level, it had always been more proficient in the Alchemy School and Enchantment School, having no interest in Breeding Science. Thus, his Wizard Academy hadn't intended to support him from the start. Once he actually entered the Yunze Cup, a large crowd from the academy tried to shove their connections into his research group.
This wizard, Marius Lawrence, was also soft-eared. Over time, his research group became filled with people with connections, while the original capable workers were squeezed out.
This led to the remaining people becoming demoralized.
This morning, Marius Lawrence spoke up in the group. As soon as he spoke, he blamed his Mountain Shadow Council Academy for not valuing Breeding Science and their Breeders, and now they had completely messed up his project.
In short, Wizard Marius was full of grievances.
He didn't dare say it within the Mountain Shadow Council, so he had to find a place to vent, and the Yunze Cup finalists' group was a good outlet.
Eavesdropping on the chat, Locke sighed, realizing that every competing research group had its own problems. Perhaps, as Barbara the Witch had said before, the problems they faced were surely being faced by their competitors as well.
Whoever could be more patient would already have the upper hand.
In the group, Locke saw Wizard Alaric from the Hui Ming Borderland comfort him with a few words, while the third-ranked Wizard Yennefer rarely @'d him: 'You can't blame anyone else; it's your own fault for being soft-eared. The students under you are even more wronged. They worked hard to help you win the competition, and as soon as you entered the finals, you replaced them with those people with connections.'
Marius Lawrence seemed stunned for a moment before @ing Yennefer from the Spiral Basin: 'You can't blame me either. Those new students, and even those wizard mentors—every one of their resumes looks better than the people in my original research group! I thought I should choose the best of the best, which is why I made the temporary changes.'
Yennefer sent him a sneering emoji.
Meanwhile, Wizard Alaric from the Hui Ming Borderland spoke up: 'You can't put it that way. You can't just look at resumes. Resumes can be padded; being able to do the work is what matters. Changing generals on the eve of battle is a major taboo.'
'By the way, does this mean your project can't continue? Does that mean we'll only have nine contestants in the finals?'
Alaric was undoubtedly fishing for information again, but Marius Lawrence was provoked. He immediately stated that his project was still moving forward and that he would work hard to complete the experiments within the allotted time, revealing a bunch of details about his experimental progress.
Locke raised an eyebrow. "It seems I don't need to worry about this One-Ring Wizard at the Crystallization Stage from Dragonfall Land anymore; he's no longer my competitor. From the details he revealed, his project is indeed progressing slowly, and the core people doing the work have basically all left."
Locke closed the grey mist slate and heard a knock at the door. He opened the laboratory door and found it was a director from the Plutarch Family's finance office, a One-Ring Liquefaction Wizard.
This person didn't have a good relationship with Eric's branch either and was a neutral party within the Plutarch Family.
The general director of the finance office was a relative of Eric, but there were many directors under the finance office.
This Liquefaction Wizard's eyes lit up when he found Locke, and he handed a bill to Locke to look at. "Wizard Augustine, I've finally found you. I wouldn't dare trouble you if it weren't important."
"But look at this."
"Look at this bill. For the purchase of High-grade Nutrient Soil, he actually wrote an extra zero. Ten thousand magic stones became a hundred thousand magic stones. The key is that I even signed it, and the bill has already been reported."
Wizard Sfendice said, "This is a major error. The name of the student who reported the bill is Leopold."
"He's a First-Class Wizard Apprentice. You see, these Commoner Wizards are so careless in their work that they accidentally caused such a huge problem. This is a bill for ninety thousand magic stones; the issue is quite serious. I manage the Plutarch Family's assets and need to be responsible for the family's property."
Wizard Sfendice frowned in disgust, making no effort to hide his hostility and loathing toward Commoner Wizards in front of Locke. "Those Commoner Wizards must have made such a huge blunder because you're too kind to them."
"You'd better put some of our reliable family wizards in your research group. Perhaps those ninety thousand magic stones were something that First-Class Wizard Apprentice wanted to embezzle for himself."
Locke frowned, glanced at Wizard Sfendice, then took the bill from him and saw that Barbara the Witch had signed it.
Locke called for Barbara the Witch. When Barbara, her face covered in dirt, saw the bill, she was also startled. "What's going on? Why did Leopold write an extra zero?"
Barbara the Witch looked at the furious Wizard Sfendice, then guiltily at Locke, and said, "Maybe it's because I usually trust him too much, so I just signed it when he gave it to me without looking closely."
"This is nine magic crystal cards... the problem is huge."
Ninety thousand magic stones was not a small amount. It could buy nine One-Ring Magic Plants, nine medium-quality One-Ring Magic items, or even seven to eight golems; it could buy a large amount of resources to assist in meditation.
While this money would be like a drop in the bucket for a large project, it was more than enough for a wizard's cultivation.
Barbara the Witch quickly realized that this mistake could easily become an excuse for family wizards like Sfendice to cause trouble. This matter could be treated as minor or major.
If treated as major, it would be an attempt to falsify accounts and defraud the Plutarch Family of its funds—a major crime. Not only would Leopold be unable to stay in Locke's research group, but Wizard Sfendice would likely haul him off to the Wizard Prison.
Locke had a massive headache. Although he had heard before that the disputes between research groups and the finance office were very complex and the two were often at odds, he hadn't expected things to develop this way.
This was the first time he had encountered such a thing, so he hadn't been on guard.
Barbara the Witch spoke up for Leopold. "Boss Locke, Leopold doesn't have the guts to embezzle nine magic crystal cards. Selling him wouldn't even be enough to pay it back."
"He must have been too busy with work and made a mistake. A while ago, his wizard mentor took away his Advancement Potion, and he was depressed for a while. The mistake probably happened then."
Wizard Sfendice said coldly, "Commoner Wizards haven't seen much money. It's normal for them to have crooked thoughts when they suddenly see such a large sum."
"I'm not here to intentionally find fault. I have great respect for Wizard Locke Augustine and acknowledge the leadership you and the Eldest Young Lady provide for our family."
"But I believe Wizard Augustine thinks too highly of those Commoner Wizards. This time I found evidence of their embezzlement; how much more has gone undetected? After I go back, I will thoroughly investigate all previous bills!"
Barbara the Witch turned her head. "You..."
She felt somewhat powerless. Lately, the family wizards in the Plutarch Family and the White Dragon Tower seemed provoked, frequently targeting the Commoner Wizards in their research group.
The hostility toward Commoner Wizards in the Six Towers Land had reached an incredible level.
They could accept outstanding Commoner Wizards from outside, even if they ruled here, but they absolutely could not accept Commoner Wizards from within the Six Towers Land being successful.
Locke thought for a moment and said, "Leopold is currently in his dormitory; let's go find him. Barbara the Witch, go check our internal research group bills. If it's just a misunderstanding, return the extra money to the finance office."
Barbara the Witch hurriedly replied, "Yes."