Wizard: Starting With Synthesized Gems

Chapter 666: Pure Magical Plant Wizard Shoes? Isn't This Nonsense?

On Golden Crown Mountain, within the peach garden at the summit of Little Peach Mountain, a peach tree gate had been opened. This gate was formed by two peach trees growing together.Three peach trees leaned close to one another, intertwined, forming an exceptionally sturdy gateway.

Several patrol wizards from Golden Crown Mountain escorted two testing wizards to this location. The peach tree dimensional gate formed by the three trees had already opened, and through it came a wave of profoundly malevolent world-force. This was the fluctuation of world-power produced by the Twin Demon Realm racing toward the wizard world's Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

The Cloud Marsh Wetlands served as a vital thoroughfare of the wizard world, and Golden Crown Mountain was its gateway. For the Twin Demon Realm to carry out a large-scale plundering campaign against the wizard world, it needed to break through this gateway and push into the rear, which would then allow it to unleash Demon Realm storms across the entire wizard world, summon Demon Realm black holes, and initiate its campaign of plunder.

The patrol wizards looked toward the Ghost Gate with grave expressions. "The Ghost Gate has been forced open, which means the Twin Demon Realm has already begun approaching the Cloud Marsh Wetlands in the near-void low orbit. The Demon Realm must be continuously lowering its near-void orbital level. Every orbital level it descends demands an enormous expenditure of magical tide energy."

"So if the Twin Demon Realm cannot plunder sufficient energy and material, this descent will come at a net loss."

The Ghost Gate system was a planar defense system created by the Cloud Marsh Wetlands using the force-energy school and breeding studies in combination with high-efficiency agricultural science, designed specifically to counter large planes approaching at high speed.

Once the opposing plane closed in from the near-void low orbit, three Third Circle-level special magical peach trees would intertwine with one another, forming a sealing gate that created a special space, producing an extradimensional battlefield that would draw the enemy's forces into it.

A Second Circle patrol wizard commander said on high alert, "The Ghost Gate has been thrown open. Following the established pattern of past Demon Realm Wars, the Twin Demon Realm's vanguard black wizards have already entered the Ghost Gate space."

"Please, everyone remain on guard."

From behind the peach gate formed by the three peach trees, a profoundly malevolent world-force passed through, carrying with it the demonic energy of the Twin Demon Realm.

The two testing wizards exchanged glances, both of them relaxed. They were both moon ring wizards, and even if they were to encounter a Third Circle black wizard, they could still escape.

Therefore, they felt no particular burden in entering the Ghost Gate to carry out their equipment testing mission.

The two of them exchanged a few words with the patrol wizard captain, then walked directly through the Ghost Gate and into the extradimensional battlefield space.

It was a space without distinction between day and night. Only the light from distant sources could reach inside and illuminate this world.

Everywhere was bare rock, stripped of all cover.

The two equipment testing wizards looked around in all directions, confirmed there were no black wizards present, and said with a smile, "All right, let's begin the testing. The design specifications for the various collective procurement equipment were reviewed earlier. Most of the designs were eliminated by the War Committee's staff at the design stage."

"The two of us are here to test the actual quality of these equipment samples."

"Where should we start?"

The other moon ring wizard said, "Let's start with the wizard shoes. Then wizard belts, magical robes, wizard gloves, wizard hats, wizard swords. Hasn't that always been the approach in previous years?"

"By the way, only about one in every fifty First Circle wizards will be participating in this Demon Realm War, right?"

That moon ring wizard casually produced a sample submitted by the Sylandi wizard shoe brand for Golden Crown Mountain, a pair of black wizard shoes that looked rather like athletic footwear.

"Yes. Except for the First Circle wizards of the Origin Academy, everyone else has a chance of being selected. Roughly one in fifty First Circle wizards will participate in this Demon Realm War. But that's more than sufficient. Approximately four hundred-odd First Circle wizards, along with corresponding Second and Third Circle wizards, a force of that size combined would be enough to annihilate the wizard organizations of any wizard land in the eastern quadrant outside of those few high-level ones. In the infinite void, what kind of world could withstand a wizard army like that?"

"Let's get on with the testing. These black wizards who have done nothing but commit atrocities deserve to be utterly destroyed long since!"

After testing the Sylandi brand's submission, which was a pair of their signature Black Panther series made from cloud silk and shadow leopard belly hide, the two found it to be extremely lightweight. With seventy-seven micro anti-gravity runes built in, wearing them made one feel light as a feather, fleet of foot, capable of increasing speed and improving resistance to dark energy damage.

The shoes also came with a range of supplementary features including cooling, moisture-wicking, pain transfer, fire resistance, poison resistance, and sound wave interference resistance, along with [Auto-Lacing], [Dust-Repelling Barrier], and a [Voice Assistant]. If you spoke to the wizard shoes, they would even respond with a selection of pre-recorded replies.

The cost of a pair of wizard shoes like this was considerable, coming to around two hundred thousand per pair.

And on top of that, due to the sheer number of features, a regular service and maintenance fee was due every six months.

After testing them, the two moon ring wizards rolled their eyes. "Sylandi's wizard shoe quality is genuinely not bad, but all these features are simply too many and too unnecessary."

The other moon ring wizard sighed. "In my view, the most core function of the Shadow Panther series is the Shadow Step First Circle spell enchanted onto it. The wizard wearing this magical item can use Shadow Step to quickly escape an enemy's attack. All the other features are superfluous."

Wizard Forbes sighed. "There's nothing to be done about it. Wizard shoes designed by magical weavers all suffer from the problem of redundant features. Getting them to lower their prices is basically impossible. Yet the smaller shoe brands may have fewer redundant features and lower service fees, but their quality simply doesn't match a major brand like Sylandi."

Wizard Forbes said, "Let's test the submissions from Melechi Magic Step and Solas Light Foot (30K) as well. I've looked over the works from our own Golden Crown Mountain magical weavers, and while Golden Crown Mountain isn't particularly skilled in weaving magic, our internal wizard shoe work is reasonably decent. Even Sylandi's shoes come out somewhat worse by comparison."

"Let's take a look at Melechi Magic Step and Solas Light Foot (30K)."

"If the quality doesn't differ too much, we'll choose the shoes designed by our own people. We'll still have to pay a hefty sum in additional fees and service charges, but at least the money goes to our own."

The two exchanged a glance, both eyes carrying a trace of resignation.

As wizards who had conducted many tests, they were both accustomed to seeing an ordinary pair of wizard shoes come loaded with an enormous number of features that appeared to have nothing to do with wizard shoes.

So they said nothing further on the matter.

Even Golden Crown Mountain's own internal works were the same.

The two produced the submission from Solas Light Foot (30K), a new series called the Radiance Cruiser, the brand's newly released line.

Wizard Forbes put them on, and his face immediately fell, because the surface of the wizard shoes erupted with a blaze of radiance, flooding everything around him in golden light.

The shoelaces were solidified aurora.

With every step he took, a carpet of solid light formed beneath his feet, and behind his back a pair of golden angel wings had appeared, while a halo of angelic light materialized above his forehead.

He himself had become a blazing, multi-colored light source.

Wizard Forbes was speechless. "Does the Solas Light Foot (30K) shoe designer actually know we're heading to a battlefield?"

The other moon ring wizard, Wizard Luca, said, "Ah, let me have a look at this. Here's a letter the Solas Light Foot (30K) designer sent to us at Golden Crown Mountain."

"Oh. The sender appears to be a newly graduated student under a renowned master magical weaver at Solas Light Foot (30K). The letter says we should respect his artistic creation."

"These shoes are the finest pair, both in functionality and artistry. Even if we do not accept his artistic vision, we will ultimately have no choice but to submit to the functional excellence of these wizard shoes."

"His philosophy is that wizard shoes should not only be practical, but should also pursue individuality, and that the finest wizard shoes are works of art. Art reflects his understanding of truth and his sense of aesthetics."

"His teacher is the Throne Wizard, Master Edward."

Wizard Forbes was somewhat at a loss for words. "Students taught by a famous master all seem to have this same insufferable arrogance."

"Damn it. Let me try these shoes first. If I have even one complaint, I'm eliminating this glorified light bulb on the spot."

He walked around wearing the Radiance Cruiser, and wherever he stepped, the ground became a sacred carpet of light.

A look of surprise crossed Wizard Forbes's face. "Hmm? The increase to my walking speed is quite significant. In terms of performance, it's almost enough to allow an ordinary wizard, simply by inputting magical pressure to activate the magical item, to match the movement speed of a spell used by a First Circle crystallization-stage wizard."

"Impressive indeed. This is worthy of Solas Light Foot (30K)." Wizard Forbes, though he still felt that the ostentatious appearance was absurd, could not help but admire the accumulated expertise Solas Light Foot (30K) had developed in light-attributed magical wizard shoes.

Though the warming function, the angel wings, the angel halo, and the dazzling radiance emitted with every step were all superfluous, the single function of increasing a wizard's movement speed was enough to outweigh all those shortcomings.

Wizard Forbes also discovered that wearing the Radiance Cruiser, he could easily adapt to all manner of terrain changes in the extradimensional battlefield, and could even walk with ease through areas thick with the demonic energy of the Twin Demon Realm, completely unaffected by it.

Wizard Forbes gave a slight shake of his head. "When it comes to making the finest wizard shoes, it's still Solas Light Foot (30K) and Melechi Magic Step. In terms of functionality, the shoes produced by our Golden Crown Mountain's own students and wizard instructors simply cannot compare."

Wizard Luca nodded. "That's true enough."

"By the way, the Radiance Cruiser also has a matching magical robe called the Radiance Magical Robe, apparently designed by this designer's senior fellow student. They form a set of linked magical items, and wearing both at the same time produces an even more dazzling magical light effect."

The corners of both men's mouths twitched.

Wizard Forbes said in irritation, "Does Solas Light Foot (30K) really think they're our only option? Let's take a look at the other top wizard shoe brand's submission, Melechi Magic Step's First Circle work this time around."

Wizard Luca sighed. "The magical weavers really have become more and more brazen in recent years. Back in the day they still had a bit of competition, but now they've completely dominated wizard shoes, wizard gloves, and magical robes without a rival in sight. Especially over the last thirty years, their products have gotten more and more outrageous. Is there really no one to rein them in?"

"I suppose not. Normal commercial competition is simply powerless against this kind of behavior."

"Every day on the stock exchange, wizards pour their own money into investing in Solas Light Foot (30K). Even when Solas Light Foot (30K) does things that are utterly absurd, they have abundant funding and more than enough margin for error."

"Solas Light Foot (30K) is no longer a small shop alliance. The relationship between them and their consumers has been reversed. They no longer need to appeal to consumers for orders. Instead, they believe they can educate consumers on how to spend, and teach them what a wizard shoe really is."

Wizard Forbes produced a pair of Shadow Dancer series wizard shoes submitted by Melechi Magic Step for the collective procurement bid.

This series was one of Melechi Magic Step's classic lines, their entry-level series, and this particular model was already the Shadow Dancer 86.

After Wizard Forbes put on the shoes, he moved with extraordinary ease, and with every step he seemed to flicker forward slightly. "This is... constant teleportation? No, it's constant shadow-state integration, which means while wearing these shoes I can achieve something close to constant teleportation."

"Each step teleports approximately ten meters. To cover five hundred meters, only fifty steps are needed."

"Excellent. The absolute speed doesn't quite match Solas Light Foot (30K)'s Radiance Cruiser, but the concept of constant teleportation is a small innovation in the wizard shoe field. Rather than winning through absolute speed, it wins through instantaneous speed in each individual movement."

Wizard Forbes was about to remark that the Shadow Dancer 86 was at least far more understated than the Radiance Cruiser, when the next moment his wizard shoes began to play a burst of music, seemingly some kind of special effect.

His expression stiffened. He turned to look at Wizard Luca.

Wizard Luca spread both hands. "I told you long ago, Solas Light Foot (30K) and Melechi Magic Step are two of a kind."

"These two shop alliances are nothing like what they were when they first started out. Back then, they survived by spending every day thinking about how to satisfy their wizard customers. Now they're the dominant force. They define the market, they set the direction for wizard shoes, so of course they add a whole series of redundant features."

"Otherwise, how would they maintain their grip on the market?"

"That said, when it comes to wizard shoe design, no one can touch these two."

"The features may be excessively elaborate, but the performance is undeniably excellent."

Wizard Forbes looked at Wizard Luca and said, "But they've genuinely gone too far this year. Previous years were never this extreme."

Wizard Luca said, "The magical weavers recently decided that their past work was too conservative, so they've launched this wave movement... to dismantle wizards' rigid preconceptions about what a wizard shoe should be."

Wizard Forbes was lost for words. "Among all these shoe submissions, is there anything that isn't quite so nightmarish?"

Wizard Luca casually picked up a design sheet alongside a pair of wizard shoes. "No. Though someone did send in a pair of pure magical plant wizard shoes. Do you want to try them? These don't have nearly as many additional features."

Wizard Forbes furrowed his brow. "Pure magical plant wizard shoes? Isn't this nonsense? Even if they don't have as many additional features, if they can't meet the basic requirements of a wizard shoe, what use are they to us?"

"Magical plants aren't particularly suited to being made into wizard shoes, especially living magical plants."

Wizard Luca said, "They were designed by one of our own wizards, someone who founded their own brand. That's the only reason they weren't eliminated in the first round."

Wizard Forbes paused for a moment, then nodded. "Well, that's fair enough. If it's one of our own, naturally we should give them a chance."