Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems-Chapter 251: The Witch's Gratitude

The dwarf scholar Orr's expression immediately became serious. He looked left and right, then said to Locke in a low voice, "Potion Master Locke, don't speak so loudly about advancement potions. This knowledge is, for many first-class wizard apprentices, no, even for many of us general scholars, forbidden knowledge that shouldn't be known."
"That is knowledge that absolutely cannot be widely known."
"Otherwise it will certainly cause a huge impact. But since our relationship is good, I can secretly tell you in private that to exchange for a bottle of advancement potion requires five thousand contribution points."
Locke frowned. It actually required so many contribution points.
The dwarf scholar Orr explained in a low voice, "The academy will find you to sign a contract when your mental power reaches 800, and provide you with one bottle for free."
"Believe me, only in this matter will the academy definitely not cheat us. Finding ways to prohibit the spread of related knowledge and limiting the channels and difficulty of exchange is absolutely the academy's greatest protection for us people."
The dwarf scholar Orr seemed to know the key knowledge about advancement potions, because his pupils dilated slightly, as if he had thought of something terrible. "If that kind of thing were spread everywhere, that would be too terrible."
Locke looked at the dwarf scholar Orr strangely. 'Strange, what exactly is an advancement potion that it's watched so closely? The side effects of abyssal potions are already big enough, but I haven't seen the White Wizard Association block that knowledge.'
Locke nodded at Orr. "I understand, then I'll leave first."
After bidding farewell to Orr, Locke went to the Witch Kitchen. The First Circle witch from the Crow’s Nest Brigade had previously notified him via carrier pigeon that she would wait for him there and reward him.
When Locke entered the Witch Kitchen, the First Circle witch Uma Gardner in private room number 1 immediately waved to indicate her location.
"Locke, you're here." Uma Gardner, compared to her previously miserable appearance, now looked like a completely different person, wearing elegant and luxurious clothing with many precious metals adorning her wizard robe and several magic rings on her hands.
The condiment chefs in the Witch Kitchen were very respectful toward her. This scene was even grander than when Zack brought him here to eat. Several dedicated condiment chefs even came over together to serve Witch Uma Gardner.
The other customers in the Witch Kitchen also became somewhat nervous.
After all, there was a First Circle wizard dining here, which was rare.
They also looked at Locke, whispering to each other in discussion. Recently, Locke's reputation in the academy had been gradually growing.
The scene where he opened his innate magic eye at the academy entrance and brutally killed a large group of black wizards had been witnessed by many wizards in the academy at the time. Many people admired his actions then, and even the black wizards' side had begun calling him the "Eye Demon Wizard."
Now, seeing that even a First Circle witch had to eat with Locke on somewhat equal terms, the other first-class wizard apprentices felt that Locke seemed to be a new top-tier first-class wizard apprentice in the academy, a new generation wizard candidate seed of Lilith's Cottage.
Uma Gardner's eyes flashed with a complex look as she gazed at Locke, mixed with gratitude, embarrassment, observation, and appreciation.
During this time, Uma Gardner had learned more about Locke in detail and clearly knew that Locke was a super genius.
Although she was a First Circle witch, she was just someone who had taken an unorthodox path, a wild First Circle witch who couldn't compare to the properly trained graduates cultivated by Lilith's Cottage with its abundant resources. Plus, Locke had saved her before, so Uma Gardner treated Locke with some degree of equality.
Of course, if Locke couldn't break through to become a formal wizard for a long time, this atmosphere of equality would definitely dissipate over time, and the attitude between the two would gradually change to the normal interaction mode between an apprentice and a formal wizard.
But that wasn't now.
At least not for a few more years.
After Locke entered the private room, Uma Gardner waved her hand, and immediately the room door closed.
"Locke, the tri-color salt grain beef steak at this restaurant tastes really delicious. I especially like it. This is the first time I've eaten such delicious food."
"In the Crow’s Nest Brigade, I never ate anything this tasty."
Although Uma Gardner was a First Circle witch, she had never lived in such a complex environment with such division of labor. At this moment, enjoying the superior living conditions of Lilith's Cottage, she actually felt somewhat reluctant to leave.
Even if she returned to the Crow’s Nest Brigade's original station, she would find it somewhat difficult to adapt to that place where there was nothing and life was not convenient at all. In comparison, Chimera Trading Market seemed more suitable for the current Crow’s Nest Brigade to survive.
Locke bowed to Uma Gardner before sitting at the dining table. "Lady Uma, you asked me to come here for?"
Uma Gardner smiled, "Mainly to thank you for saving my life."
Locke said cautiously, "Lady Uma, the one who saved you was my teacher, Witch Sophia, not me."
Great favors sometimes become great grudges.
He himself wasn't a formal wizard, so he didn't dare to keep mentioning that he was a First Circle witch's lifesaver. That would also be quite annoying to others.
Uma Gardner smiled, "Sophia has already gone to the Star Domain Sea. That's a big place, the kind of place that a wizard like me wouldn't dare to imagine in my lifetime."
"So, I want to repay this life-saving favor to you."
"It just so happens that our brigade has decided to rent a shop in Chimera Trading Market and live here."
Locke nodded slightly. Chimera Trading Market indeed had many small and medium-sized wizard organizations surviving by relying on this.
Chimera Trading Market had gathered numerous wizard organizations and was no longer entirely the private property of Lilith's Cottage.
Locke continued the conversation, "Lady Uma, what kind of shop do you want to open?"
Uma Gardner pondered, "Let's open a conjuration shop. I've looked around, and the number and variety of conjuration shops in Chimera Trading Market are relatively few. There's quite a lack in this area."
"Our brigade can survive here very well."
"The wizards in the brigade are all sub-branch conjuration school wizards specializing in shadow creation magic."
"We can sell some conjuration rune stones and talisman wood made by our conjuration school wizards to some wizards in the market. These will be very useful in battle and can assist in combat and reconnaissance..."
Uma Gardner was seriously planning her brigade's future.
"The brigade has an apprentice-level magic that uses conjuration school spells to summon a mass of shadow energy from the shadow plane, then creates it into one or more black crow conjuration life forms. That's a pretty good conjuration spell."
"It can be used for reconnaissance. If we use rune stone technology to make it into specific spell rune stones, it will definitely sell well."
Uma Gardner said, "Back to the main topic, I'm mainly here to thank you this time, Locke."
"Is there anything you need my help with? Last time, I really need to thank you. Otherwise our brigade would have been completely wiped out."
Locke thought for a moment. Actually, on his way here, he had already figured out how to make good use of this favor.
Currently, the status gap between himself and Witch Uma Gardner was very large. If this favor wasn't used well, Witch Uma Gardner would feel uncomfortable, and he might not necessarily be able to cash it in later. Better to cash it in now, and besides, he was indeed lacking resources at present.
Accumulating mana to 800 required resources, and advancing to formal wizard required another batch of resources.
Currently, he definitely wouldn't lack the resources to accumulate mana to 800, but the resources needed to advance to formal wizard also needed to be collected starting from now. He needed more and more magical resources.
Locke said, "Lady Uma, there actually is something."
"Do you know conjuration school magic that creates self-consciousness? Having the standard intelligence of a cat would be enough..."
"I want some rune stones that can create self-consciousness for magical plants."
"This way, in the future, I can use them to create some automatically battling magical plants with simple consciousness."