Chapter 907
Inspiration for the Special Grant Fund
Chapter 907 Inspiration for the Special Grant Fund
Locke gazed into the distance and saw many stone statues in this peculiar corridor. However, one of the statues, which was originally made of golden wheat, had been split in two.
Locke said, "This is..."
The stone statue, which should have been made of golden wheat, has broken in the middle, with a crack appearing as if it is about to break apart.
"That's right," said the Russell Throne. "The reason I brought you here is to show you this. The statues here are the work of the potion masters from the Boundary Between Darkness and Light. You probably don't know that the Boundary Between Darkness and Light was once a holy land of potion-making."
"Here is a group of golden potion masters who have brewed the potion that grants immortality to all things."
"They created this corridor. In the face of a history destined to decline at the boundary between light and shadow, all efforts seem futile, and all efforts seem to be pushing fate in this direction."
"Therefore, the ancestors of the border area between darkness and light decided to leave something for their descendants."
Locke suddenly realized something.
"They placed the Linghong mark inside these statues."
Locke took a half step back, because it was too exaggerated.
Only then did he realize that the entire corridor was not made of ordinary bricks or so-called magical materials, but was built by Ling Hong.
In other words, every tree and blade of grass in this corridor belongs to Ling Hong.
The stone pillars are Linghong, the bricks and stones underfoot are also Linghong, and even the corridor itself is Linghong.
Locke realized that he and the Russell Throne had probably entered a spiritual realm called the "Corridor of the Past".
Such techniques are truly breathtaking.
'Ordinary spirit macros cannot have an infinite lifespan, but this corridor seems to have become a place, as if it has become eternal.'
Locke thought to himself.
'This corridor seems to reflect everything within it. Is this really something a potion master could do? It's as if a world hall formed from the very essence of dimensional principles has been created here. There are even many incredibly lifelike mythical beasts here, and these phantom beasts can interact with me.'
'What a magical place.'
'Furthermore, a crack has appeared in the stone pillar of the Golden Wheat statue. Does this mean I've regressed to a portion of the Golden Wheat's ancestral form? Russell's Throne summoned me here; it must be related to this.'
Russell said, “Locke, your mutated golden foxtail grass should indeed have revived the key golden wheat. I was truly surprised that you could come up with an effective method of atavism.”
Locke said to Russell Throne, "According to the article I published on the All Things Convergence, and Yunze's article, these two articles have clearly explained the principle of my atavism. It was a miracle accomplished by using the Yellow Mushroom Essence and the two enchanted sword systems that I specially developed."
"But yellow-skinned mushroom extract has its limitations. First, this magical element must not conflict with the magical plant itself. In fact, only one-third of the magical plants currently known can use yellow-skinned mushroom extract. Moreover, the principle of the atavistic evolution of yellow-skinned mushroom extract is simply because it can destroy the mechanism that inhibits the expression of plant factors."
"This is itself a limitation of its atavistic evolution."
The Russell Throne nodded and said, “I understand. So, that’s why I called you here. I’m asking you, Locke Augustine, have you decided on your application for the Golden Crown Grant?”
Locke paused for a moment, because Russell's Throne suddenly changed the subject.
Not yet.
Russell's throne curled into a satisfied smile.
"Then you're in trouble. There should only be a few months left before the first review of your application. If you miss it, you'll have to wait until next year."
"If I wait until next year, I might have to compete against my best friend. It's exhausting to have a group of people vying for one spot."
"Isn't your Yunze Wetland's magical plant crystallization technology route quite popular lately? You've won some championships, secured some projects, and published some articles in various wizarding lands in the Eastern Boundary."
"Those wizards have already achieved great things because of this, and their success continues. Since it's so popular, why don't you join in?"
Locke bowed to the Russell Throne and said, "The magic plant crystallization technology is excellent. However, I have my own pace, and continuing the research on ancestral evolution is more in my own interest."
Russell nodded.
"That's right. Your own rhythm is the most important thing. Don't change your behavior arbitrarily because of momentary greed."
"That would bring disaster."
Locke asked, "Your Majesty, you seem to have doubts about the magic plant crystallization technology, and your evaluation is not as high as that of the general wizarding community."
With his hands behind his back, Russell smirked and said, "Don't talk nonsense. On the contrary, I really want to get the research data on this technological research route for my few good-for-nothing researchers."
"The reason I told you to stick to your own pace is simply because I don't want you to steal the opportunities from my students and their descendants. The fruits of a technological research path are limited. If people like you pick them all, won't my good-for-nothing students and their descendants go hungry?"
Locke was taken aback by Russell's words.
He hesitated for a moment, then said casually to the Russell Throne, “Your Majesty is too kind. Someone of your status can feed his people with just a little bit of food slipping through your fingers. How could you possibly think I would stand in the way of your students? Among your students are many true geniuses, far more capable than I am.”
Russell glanced at Locke with surprise.
"You are surprisingly humble and not arrogant."
"Let's get back to the main point. What kind of person does what kind of thing."
"That's all."
"If you really want to insist on developing the path of atavism," said the Russell Throne. "Then take a look at this spell of mine. It's just a second-circle spell model."
Russell Throne extended his right hand, palm up, and a green foxtail grass appeared in his palm. The green foxtail grass gradually became tinged with golden light, clearly undergoing some kind of atavism.
The blue foxtail grass in Russell's hand remained in a state where it was partly gold and partly blue.
"Did you see clearly?"
Locke realized that the spell model he had just seen was open source and not hidden. He stretched out his right hand, even though he had thought he couldn't directly copy the spell model.
But suddenly his pupils dilated, and all the spell gestures and spell models from Russell's Throne spellcasting suddenly appeared in his mind. Those spell models seemed to have always existed in his mind.
How could this be?
The next moment, Locke chanted the spell, and the spell model appeared in his hand. The green foxtail grass that had been in front of Russell's throne moved to Locke's front, and the entire green foxtail grass began to migrate towards the state of the second-circle enchanted plant, the golden foxtail grass.
Upon seeing this, Russell's pupils contracted slightly. He nodded and said, "It's alright, so-so. In our border region between darkness and light, it's only above average."
The Russell Throne stood silently to the side, patiently waiting for Locke to fully grasp the spell model.
'Only a Sun Ring Wizard can resonate with the Corridor of the Past through magical power. Otherwise, to that wizard, it's just an ordinary corridor.'
'Therefore, the prerequisite for the three-headed dog to deceive people is that the person is a sun-ring wizard. If it is a sun-ring wizard, then there is no need to fear being eaten by it; otherwise, our Golden Dynasty would not tolerate this three-headed dog running rampant here.'
"Of course, there's another possibility: someone with exceptionally high gold-level magical talent can resonate with this corridor. The higher the talent, the stronger the resonance. Locke Augustine, that guy's talent is truly terrifying. Damn it, what are the people below doing? If someone like that were just an ordinary first-ring wizard, I could have just poached him."
'He's already a second-circle wizard, so I shouldn't bring it up again.'
'To learn the [Golden Spell] after just one viewing is unbelievable, even for a second-circle wizard.'
Locke used the golden spell on the blue dog's tail to try and bring out the hidden golden magical power within it, causing it to undergo a reversion to its ancestral form.
Russell said, “It’s different from what the outside world knows. Potions and breeding in the Boundary Between Light and Darkness are indeed just average now, but that doesn’t mean they were bad in the past. And we are now working hard to restore some ancient plants. This golden spell was one of the directions we worked on, but it was later abandoned.”
"This project was proposed by me and I wanted to hand it over to one of my students."
A shadow appeared on Russell's brow.
"But he was later imprisoned in a wizarding jail for allegedly selling information about the college. He is now working there and using the rest of his debts to make amends for his crimes."
"Because of his problems, my Golden Spell development project completely failed."
"But according to my idea, the Golden Spell can also revert to the ancestral evolution of magical plants, which might allow Golden Wheat to appear. I have seen your method of reversion, and to be honest, it is not precise enough and too cumbersome. Golden Wheat was originally a Sun Ring-level magical plant. Even if reversion occurs using your method, it will only be a reversion from a golden foxtail grass to Golden Wheat."
"But it's still just a regular second-ring magical plant."
"Golden foxtail grass is already a second-level magical plant. This has led to the prospects of your research being greatly underestimated."
"But if I use my golden spell to enhance your atavism, I might be able to create an atavism with a higher degree of precision..."
Locke looked up at the Russell Throne, wondering to himself why the Russell Throne had chosen him and why it had given him such a good project.
Those who are neither relatives nor friends with me, let alone my teachers or mentors.
If the hope is that someone can complete the reversion to the ancestral golden wheat, then he could simply release such a good project to more outstanding wizards.
Even if they have their eyes on me, all I need to do is discuss with Jin Mianshan and ask them to transfer me to participate in this project.
Locke's mind stirred slightly, and he asked, "May I ask Your Majesty, why did the student who was originally in charge of this project betray the interests of the Golden Dynasty and sell information to others?"
Russell said, “He thought I gave him an impossible project. He was very angry about it and felt that he was doing something meaningless.”
"He was also a wizard from the Advanced Institute of Truth, and he believed that I was the reason he couldn't leave the station. I told him it was simply because he was useless. So, he stopped focusing on his research and spent all his time thinking about crooked ways and shortcuts."
With his hands behind his back, Russell said, "I don't like people taking shortcuts."
Locke gave a wry smile.
So that's how it is. No wonder they used this method to harm themselves. It turns out there's a problem with this project, and it seems that the project hasn't made any progress for some time.
Russell's Throne clearly wouldn't waste time on a second-tier project.
Locke recalled the spell model he had just learned.
"It's... a matter of time. Casting that spell requires a lot of data on the sunrise and sunset trajectories of the border between light and darkness. Those trajectories are the foundation of this golden magic."
"This golden spell can strengthen the golden magic within a magical plant, forcibly forcing its hidden golden magical power to manifest, thereby compelling the full release of its latent golden magical potential and enabling it to undergo a reversion to its ancestral form."
This is a technological path that is different from its own atavistic evolution.
However, the two can be combined. After thinking about it, Locke realized that combining the two technical approaches might indeed create a kind of magic with higher positioning accuracy and the ability to revert to ancestral evolution and create more powerful magical plants.
This idea clearly inspired Russell to launch his Golden Curse Project 2.0.
But the biggest challenge of this project is that it requires the tedious task of collecting the unique sunrise and sunset trajectories of the sun at the boundary between day and night.
This will inevitably take a lot of time.
This is probably why the student at Russell's Throne had a mental breakdown.
This kind of data collection simply cannot be completed in less than a century.
But Russell's Throne project was proceeding smoothly and methodically, suggesting that different incoming students were working on the project.
In any case, for him, there were only about twenty students.
We can always wait until the twentieth student produces the results for this project.
But clearly, after seeing his own atavistic evolution, he immediately became restless and thought it would be too stupid to wait for a dozen students to complete the project.
This led him to come to him in person.
He wanted to help him complete the project himself.
Locke wondered if Bruce the Wizard had asked him about his connection to the Russell Throne while they were talking, and if he had told him how much the Russell Throne had protected him.
So that's the reason.
Russell looked at Locke and asked again, "Hmm? You've been standing there for a long time. Can you give me an answer? Should we take this project and give it a try?"
(End of this chapter)