Wizard:Starting from Synthesizing Gems

Locke devoured every piece of meat on the entire food cart while channeling his Mana into the Deep Purple Gem.

His stomach roared like thunder—the enhanced digestive ability granted by his ancient Bloodline rapidly breaking down the dried beef completely.

Then came the sound of shattering crystal. Locke looked down to find the Deep Purple Gem in his hand reduced to a pile of gemstone dust.

"The special substance inside the Deep Purple Gem has been completely exhausted, causing the gem to shatter," Locke mused. "I still need seven more Deep Purple Gems to fully eliminate the side effects on my body. It'll take at least two weeks to synthesize them all, but this is already good progress. If it were any other Second-Class Wizard Apprentice, it would likely take years to suppress these side effects."

"Of course, Lilith's Cottage sells potions to cleanse the corrupted spiritual side effects, but those are extremely expensive and can only be purchased from one's own Wizard Mentor."

"Moreover, none of those potions are as effective as the Deep Purple Gem."

Potions themselves also carry some side effects, so even using expensive concoctions to purge impurities from one's spiritual energy would inevitably leave lingering traces.

Locke could even sense that the residual toxicity from the Moonlight Elixir and Contemplation Balm he had consumed was also being cleansed under the influence of the Deep Purple Gem.

In essence, the Deep Purple Gem allowed him to maintain a pristine state—as if he had never used any [potions] at all.

Locke flipped through his All Things Class notes. The Deep Purple Gem was a specialty of the Star Domain Sea, but it was exceedingly rare in the southeastern corner of the region. As a result, wizard apprentices there had no access to it for purging potion toxicity from their systems.

"The Star Domain Sea… Teacher Sophia has been mentioning that term a lot lately."

"The Deep Purple Gem contains a unique energy from the Star Domain Sea—Void Energy. Even the sparse traces of Void Energy are enough to purify all the impurities within my spiritual energy."

"Unfortunately, Void Energy doesn't seem capable of cleansing Aether Elements, so the entangled traces of Aether within my spiritual energy remain."

Locke frowned slightly at his reflection in the study mirror. He still wasn't sure what negative effects these lingering Aether Elements might have on his spiritual energy.

But so far, there seemed to be no impact whatsoever, so there was no need for undue concern.

Returning to his bedroom, Locke applied some Contemplation Balm to his temples and began his nightly meditation.

…

The next day, Locke arrived early at the patrol team's wooden hut to report.

For some reason, however, many of the wizard apprentices in the patrol team cast strange, curious glances his way.

Yet whenever Locke met their gazes, they would either greet him with a smile or nod in acknowledgment.

Ever since his outstanding performance in the last mission, Locke had gained recognition within the patrol team and had gradually integrated into their ranks.

Faced with this slightly unusual situation, Locke furrowed his brow.

It seemed he had stirred up some commotion, becoming one of the central figures in recent gossip.

Locke had a rough idea of what was going on.

He entered Captain Bruno Suarez's office, and Bruno's eyes lit up slightly upon seeing him. "Locke, you're here today."

"This afternoon, we have a rather dangerous mission—clearing out a herd of Berserk Rhinoceroses that have intruded near Lilith's Cottage on the city outskirts. I plan to take you and Halia along."

Ever since the previous incident, Captain Bruno had regarded Locke as a competent Second-Class Wizard Apprentice, naturally earning his attention.

Halia, meanwhile, studied Locke curiously. "Hello, Locke."

"I heard you rejected the investment contract from the Reeves family and even declared that you didn't need funding from any wizard family."

"Did you know? You've become the hottest topic among Second-Class Wizard Apprentices at Lilith's Cottage lately."

"People are saying all sorts of things."

Captain Bruno grew stern and raised his voice at Halia. "Halia, why bring this up?"

"We're all part of the same patrol team. There's no need to gossip about our own because of outsiders."

Halia shrugged, arched her brows, and put on an exaggeratedly comical expression to lighten the mood. "Well, there are wizard apprentices from the Seventy-Two Local Wizard Families in our patrol team too."

"Besides, after hearing about it this morning, I explicitly refuted the rumors among those spreading them."

"I told them it was just hearsay—that Locke Augustine is an outstanding wizard apprentice in our patrol team."

Turning to Locke, she added apologetically, "Sorry, Locke. I just wanted to warn you—it seems the Reeves family is targeting you with some kind of retaliation."

"These declining local wizard families are so petty."

Both Halia and Captain Bruno were local-born wizards, but they hailed from ordinary families, so they had little bias in this matter.

In fact, having fought alongside Locke before, they even held more goodwill toward him.

Locke frowned. He hadn't expected the Reeves family to resort to such petty tactics.

Clearly, they were displeased by his rejection and sought to tarnish his reputation, ensuring no wizard family would invest in him.

If he had genuinely wanted funding, this would have been distressing—perhaps even enough to make him apologize in person.

But he wasn't.

He had never considered accepting investments from any of the Seventy-Two Local Families—that would be tying his own hands.

Locke wasn't particularly bothered, though he mentally noted the Reeves family's actions. He then said to Captain Bruno and Halia, "Thank you both for the warning."

"But these are just insignificant tricks. As wizard apprentices, our true duty lies in studying and exploring the path of magic."

"Captain, could you brief me on this afternoon's mission?"

Halia and Captain Bruno nodded in agreement. In their eyes, this rumor was indeed a lowly, underhanded tactic.

Still, Locke's indifference to it surprised them slightly.

Halia looked at Locke in surprise, not understanding why he remained so calm.

Captain Bruno said, "Alright, let's get down to business."

"The Berserk Rhinoceroses possess a passive 0.5-circle Cantrip from the Enchantment Studies school called [Berserk Spell]. There are approximately seven of them, so we plan to use our numerical advantage to drive them away."

"In this process, we'll also gain some benefits."

Captain Bruno continued, "The Magical Materials from any slain Berserk Rhinoceroses can be evenly divided among our patrol team."

"Within Lilith's Cottage's territory, we can safely eliminate Magical Creatures that intrude into urban areas. This is far safer than hunting and collecting Magical Materials in the dangerous wilderness. Consider this a perk of being in the patrol team."

(End of chapter)