Chapter 1163

Chapter 1139 A Shop Alliance with the Potential for Fake Forging!

The witch Rose looked at Argos with a mocking gaze, while Argos realized something was very wrong. He gestured to the second-ring witch from the Enchanting School, whom he had specifically invited and exclusively contracted, to continue introducing the remaining Radiance 07 and Radiance 08.   Radiance

07 was a Star Ring-level wizard shoe, priced at five million magic stones.   Radiance 08 was a Moon Ring-level wizard shoe, priced at ten million magic stones.   Because of the short time allotted for integrating technical resources, these two pairs of wizard shoes weren’t yet the pinnacle of their respective levels like Radiance 02-06. They were simply the best wizard shoes from the past, selected from Solas’s Lightfoot and Melochy’s Magic Step, slightly modified, and recolored before being put on sale.   However, because Argos reduced production costs, the Radiant Holy War Wizard Shoes, originally priced at 20 million magic stones per pair, became 5 million magic stones per pair, and the Magic Step 4000, originally priced at 50 million magic stones per pair, became 10 million magic stones per pair.   The reason for such a large price difference is that he completely eliminated the exploitative Magic Shoemaker Guild and other profit chains involved. These high costs, besides the original high price, included substantial marketing expenses, resulting in meager profits for the Magic Step 4000. These marketing shops were almost all established by former Melochy Magic Step, who   also served as a senior employee of the Magic Shoemaker Guild. In other words, they were essentially reselling to each other.   By leveraging the Resource Management Committee to eliminate the middlemen, the costs were naturally reduced to a fraction of their original amount.   Argos Moon Ring Wizard now opened the Ganoderma lucidum plant, found Arthas Shop Alliance, and saw the Starry Golden Dragon Claw Air Plant, priced at 2 million magic stones per pair.   ”Two million? Hmm? It’s even more expensive than our barefoot shoes from Solas.”   Argos’s face darkened. If a wizard shoe shop alliance sells shoes for more than their barefoot shoes from Solas, yet a large number of wizards still flock to them, there are likely two reasons.   First, the quality of these wizard shoes is excellent.   Second, the Augustus wizard shoe shop alliance brand has been established. Otherwise, Augustus’s brand premium wouldn’t be enough, and the high price would only attract some strange shoe speculators.   If a shop alliance brand only has high prices but hasn’t established a brand, it will only breed a group of strange speculators, which would be a devastating blow to the brand.

Argos quickly searched through the internal documents of Solas Barefoot. He watched the live stream, searched the internal documents, and reviewed the magical plant attribute data of all the wizard shoes sold by Augustus. For a Moon Ring wizard, multitasking was a piece of cake.

“Hmm? In the early stages, the previous administrative manager used a strategy of exchanging a pair of Augustus shoes for a pair of Solas Barefoot wizard shoes, trying to make speculators Augustus’s main customers and make the brand seem cheap. It was a clever idea, and while it’s like a lion using its full strength to hunt a rabbit in battle, in the commercial war, such actions are tantamount to admitting that we are afraid of Augustus.” “

Initially, we should have waited and seen how things developed.”

Argos’s face darkened after reviewing all the strategies of the risk assessment and management department. “What were the previous managers of Solas Barefoot doing? Did they even hire dark wizards to attack the other side and help them establish brand prestige?”

Argos said: After reviewing the entire development history of Augustus, this store alliance was practically built on the losses and bloodshed of Solas Barefoot. I just returned from another wizarding land, and the information I had was only rough. I hadn’t even noticed how dangerous this shop alliance was.

He had even ranked this shop alliance behind several medium-sized wizard shoe shop alliances.

After the stock price of Solas’s Barefoot fell, those wizard shoe shop alliances wanted to replace Solas’s Barefoot.

He won against all his competitors, but he didn’t expect the real danger to come from wizards of other disciplines.

Argos said, “My 03, 04, and 05 are all priced at 1.5 million, only the 06 is priced at 2 million magic stones per pair. The technology used in the Radiant 06 is the core technology of our Rose School at the second level, the cutting-edge research direction of the Rose School, and is managed by the Witch Rose and some other wizards. That’s why I dare to sell it at this price.”

“Augustus dares to sell it for more than us now. Is it because this wizard shoe shop alliance has moved beyond the stage of marketing itself by low prices?”

That’s the most troublesome thing.

Solas’s Footwork was enormous; their previous clash with Augustus had only resulted in some losses of working capital, posing no real danger. However, Argos immediately saw Augustus as the greatest threat, because Augustus’s current behavior indicated that it wasn’t a shop alliance that would submit to the industry standards defined by Solas’s Footwork.

Argos quickly reviewed Augustus’s best-selling wizard shoes and identified two types that posed a threat to his shop alliance.

One pair is the Black Hummingbird, Ring 1.

The other is the Starry Golden Dragon Claw, recently released by Augustus.

The Black Hummingbird offers exceptional value; Solas’s Barefoot hasn’t yet developed a wizard’s shoe that surpasses it.

The Starry Golden Dragon Claw’s technical level seems to be within the range of their four recently released Radiance 03-06 pairs, perhaps even slightly superior.

Argos, after reading the Starry Golden Dragon Claw’s plant-based attributes, was shocked to find that its plant-based attribute panel was actually higher than Radiance 06.

Radiance 06 allows wizards, under certain conditions, to stand on a botanical root realm, granting them a special ability that makes them untargetable.

However, the Starry Golden Dragon Claw is even more remarkable in its special abilities; a pair of Ring 2 wizard’s shoes can use excellent-level mystical meanings that are only usable by Moon Ring-level plants.

Although the limitations are significant,

it’s enough to make wizards in the Eastern Frontier flock to it.

Argos watched as the number of pre-ordered wizard shoes kept doubling, his face darkening. He knew the true threat posed by the Augustus Shop Alliance.

“Augusto,” Argos mused. “It has the potential to become a pseudo-forging-level shop alliance.”

“Previously, within the industry, Solas Barefoot and Melochy Magic Step defined a value hierarchy of contempt. Everyone followed the crowd, believing that these two brands of wizard shoes were the best. Even if newly established wizard shoe brands did well, they still had to accept the contempt hierarchy established by Solas Barefoot; their brands and products were considered inferior.” “

But I see in Augustus—a tendency to break through this limitation.”

Argos glanced at the Solas Barefoot employees sitting beside him. “This is a real enemy. An enemy capable of bringing down our Solas Footsteps. Damn it, I didn’t even notice this before, I just thought it was an ordinary shop alliance.”

“The saddest thing is that, despite the obvious fact, most of the wizards in Solas Footsteps are still unaware of it.” “

The former administrators weren’t aware of it either.”

“Did Rose realize it?”

Argos glanced at the witch Rose.

Argos’s eyes were icy. “Leaving aside Rose the Witch for now, these other senior employees clearly still think this is just a dispute between shop alliances. They don’t realize that this is a battle of wits between the Pure Magic Plant Shop Alliance established by Locke Augustine and the Solas Barefoot Shop established by the wizard Solas, just like the battle that Master Solas once waged against the shop alliance hegemon of the past retail industry. If Master Solas wins as expected, the wizard shoe market will remain the same, developing along the original path towards a better future.”

“But if Augustine wins—then the wizard shoe market will change, heading towards a different future.”

“This boy is a wizard of the Red Dragon lineage, and he even has the marks of a third-circle wizard. Is this a coincidence? Could it be that the Red Dragon lineage is targeting me?”

Argos swallowed hard.

“Isn’t the Red Dragon Cult led by Aladdin, a Sun Ring wizard and Fiona’s student, in a series of academic disputes with Professor Solas’s most important industry—the textile materials research laboratory—in conjunction with the new textile school at Boniface’s Academy? I didn’t think the Red Dragon Cult would target wizard shoes.”

Because wizard shoes really have little to do with magical plants.

Augustus had previously subconsciously considered it an isolated case.

But judging from their actions, they not only want to turn pure magical plant wizard shoes into a niche brand, but also attempt to replace all wizard shoes in the world with pure magical plant wizard shoes. This is no longer a commercial struggle; it’s a n*ked struggle of principles.

They’re just being somewhat discreet, not directly confronting third-ring wizards.

But what kind of struggle between a lower-ring and a higher-ring wizard is so openly declared?

Argos pondered for a moment, wondering if he could convince Professor Solas that this was a conflict initiated against him by wizards of the Red Dragon lineage, prompting Solas to intervene directly. However, he quickly dismissed the idea, as Professor Solas was currently the main planner and overall leader of the Rose lineage’s war of influence. He

had many tasks to complete.

Furthermore, Locke Augustine hadn’t explicitly stated his intentions, making it difficult to determine whether he merely wanted to release one or two super-products or genuinely aimed to revolutionize the wizard shoe market and wizards’ consumption habits. Therefore, submitting reports on these matters would only be misinterpreted as baseless speculation.

Besides, Professor Solas had summoned him, giving him an opportunity; to do so would be to actively forfeit that opportunity.

Thus, he immediately rejected the idea.

He wasn’t about to surrender so easily to a wizard who had just become a Moon Ring Wizard.

Argos wore a confident smile, exchanging a glance and a smile with Aura, who had just finished speaking.

“Mr. Aura, why didn’t you follow the plan and invite the wizards present to endorse your Resource Integration Management Committee?”

Wizard Aura said, “Actually, I did mention it. But it’s all because of the business conflict between your Solas Barefoot and Augustus, so no one paid attention when I said it. Now they’re all comparing the merits of your new wizard shoes from Solas Barefoot and Augustus. Getting second-circle wizard shoes to use mystical meanings is truly a clever tactic.”

Wizard Aura laughed, “You people from Cloud Marsh Wetlands really have a lot of talent.” Wizard

Aura thought to himself: A miscalculation. I didn’t pay much attention to Augustus before. If I had known, I should have befriended that wizard I met earlier and invited him to join our Resource Integration Management Committee. If we could simultaneously target both Augustus and Solas Barefoot, then our committee would have completely captured the wizard shoe market.

“Fortunately, it’s not too late yet.”

At this moment, Samuel, the leading Sun Ring Wizard from Bonifacius University in the wizarding audience, beamed with a smile. He had initially been hesitant, forced to watch Solas Barefoot’s actions and see the new textile wizarding force from Bonifacius University squeezed out of the wizarding shoe market. But then

, a dramatic turn of events occurred. At the most crucial moment of Solas Barefoot’s antics, the Augustus Shop Alliance unexpectedly intervened, disrupting Solas Barefoot’s momentum.

This launch event was essentially a contest of momentum—

the confidence of fellow wizards in Solas Barefoot.

Locke had precisely seized this opportunity, disrupting the wizards’ growing confidence in Solas Barefoot, causing Solas Barefoot’s plan to use this confidence to intimidate other wizarding shoe shop alliances to fail.

A second-circle wizard looked at Samuel and asked, “Professor Samuel, do we, the individual shoemakers of the Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance, still need to proceed with the original plan to negotiate with Solas Barefoot after or even at this launch event to sell our shop alliance as soon as possible?”

Wizard Samuel shook his head and said, “No need. The reason I had you do that before was because our influence in the wizard shoe market is very small.”

“If Solas Barefoot is determined to sweep the entire market and monopolize it, and with the help of the Resource Integration Management Committee, your small shop alliances will only suffer a terrible fate. There’s no chance of survival. Rather than letting someone else take it over later, it’s better to sell the shop alliances now and get a high price—that’s selling at a high price.”

“In business, you can’t always think about going bankrupt before you quit. If you can cash out at a high price, you should. But right now, it doesn’t seem like the right time to cash out at a high price, and there’s even considerable doubt about whether Solas Barefoot can monopolize the wizard shoe market.”

Wizard Samuel looked at the Star Ring Wizard beside him. This Star Ring Wizard, [Soren], was the owner of the largest wizard shoe shop alliance at Bonifacius University. He

was also a key player for the New Textile School in this market.

It was a mid-sized wizard shoe shop alliance called the Soren Wizard Shoe Shop Alliance.

Wizard Soren immediately bowed. “Mr. Samuel, you’re right. It seems we don’t need to surrender now. I always thought the Soren Wizard Shop Alliance and Augustus were both mid-tier wizard shoe shop alliances of the same level. We Soren had the advantage of history, a stable customer base, consistently sponsored wizard athletes and wizard fighters, and stable sponsored expeditions. We Soren had advantages, while Augustus, because it was established so recently, lacked everything a wizard shoe shop alliance should have. But now it seems I was narrow-minded.”

“Augustus is special.”

“Although I don’t know why I feel this way, I think we’re far from the time to cash out at a high price until Augustus is completely defeated by Solas Barefoot.

” “Perhaps Solas Barefoot will try to win us over in the future?”

Wizard Samuel smirked. “Although the chances are slim, based on my experience of switching from the Azure Wilderness to the Cloud Marsh Wetlands, it’s certainly something to look forward to. If Augustus’s threat to Solas’s Lightfoot exceeds my expectations, then we can indeed profit from it.”

Wizard Soren looked at Wizard Samuel and immediately recalled the wizard’s past experiences.

Wizard Samuel was originally a textile wizard from the Alchemy School of the Azure Wilderness, a traditional textile wizard by definition. However, because the Tacitus family of the Rose Council had stolen special silk-spinning spiders from their wizarding territory, the Azure Wilderness had explicitly forbidden its textile wizards from switching to the Cloud Marsh Wetlands.

After Boniface University proposed the new textile science, it was viewed as a monstrous threat, completely severing communication between the textile wizarding circles of its own wizarding lands and those of the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. However, under these circumstances, Samuel, a wizard who was already facing difficulties in promotion and resources in his local wizarding lands, saw the lack of outstanding textile wizards in the new field and seized the opportunity to switch sides, securing a position and bringing with him the textile technology recently developed in the Fairy Blue Wilderness.

That wizarding land had always been relatively closed off, never open to the outside world, and had few wizards coming and going. The Fairy Palace technology that Samuel brought truly amazed the new textile wizards at Boniface University, further enhancing the new textile science.

Thinking of this, Wizard Soren realized that Wizard Samuel was a wizard who was very good at seizing opportunities, but he looked curiously at the Arthas platform interface on the Ganoderma lucidum plant in his hand.

“I really don’t understand why Locke Augustine, a breeder, spends all his time hanging out with us textile wizards, even getting involved in our textile school’s infighting,”

Wizard Samuel chuckled. “So what? It’s always good for young people to be proactive. I admire his courage to try anything. I think our young wizards these days lack that kind of courage to try anything, no matter what they encounter.”

“Whether it’s him or Augustus, I want to see if they are truly enduring realities or just illusions.”

Meanwhile, the owners of numerous medium-sized wizard shoe shops, whether present or not, witnessed this scene through various channels and were all deeply troubled, believing that this was not the time to surrender.

These wizards began contacting other wizards.

Currently, the wizarding shoe market is characterized by both a dominant player and a diverse range of competitors. Third-ring wizards can freely trade across wizarding territories, while Moon-ring wizards and others are limited to operating within a single territory. Therefore, their competition is essentially for market share in Cloudswamp Wetlands, as long as they can avoid being swallowed up by Solas’s Lightfoot within that region.

This time, what Melochy sold to Solas’s Lightfoot was only its assets and market within Cloudswamp Wetlands. Melochy itself was merely a regionally strong brand within Cloudswamp Wetlands. After leaving Cloudswamp Wetlands, the Melochy wizard instructed his subordinates to reorganize Melochy’s supply chain in other wizarding territories and integrate it into a new alliance of shops.

In the Eastern Boundary, Solas’s Lightfoot is not a monopoly; in fact, it’s only a slightly more well-known first-tier wizarding shoe brand.

This is also why the wizard Argos didn’t use the pretext of a Daoist struggle to ask the wizard Solas to directly attack Locke. Because of the restrictions on Moon Ring wizards, Locke could only compete with Solas in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands. This was both a restriction and a protection for Moon Ring and Sun Ring wizards.

If this were the case, third-ring wizards wouldn’t harbor any ill intentions towards a shop alliance still operating within a wizarding territory.

At least it would significantly reduce conflicts between third-ring and second-ring wizards.

At this time, the three leading second-tier wizard shoe brands here—Hundred Jade Pearl, Bull’s Pavilion, and Wanfan—began contacting various parties, even sending Locke their contact information, attempting to reach him.

Hundred Jade Pearl specializes in the appearance and style of wizard shoes, taking a fashion route. Many of the shoes they sell are apprentice-level magical items, or wizard shoes with reduced costs and reduced functionality, primarily aimed at fashion style and personal style. Essentially, they’ve found a path that other magic shoemakers haven’t discovered: aesthetics are also a demand.

After all, sometimes, certain leaders or couples desperately need a pair of wizard shoes that suit their style and personality for different occasions.

Bai Cui Pearl has many sub-brands, all specializing in this fashionable style of wizard shoes.

Because they found such a niche market, Bai Cui Pearl and its smaller competitors survived and avoided the initial wave of exploitation by Solas’s Barefoot, unlike the dozen or so other wizard shoe shops that were exploited and forced to surrender prematurely under pressure.

Cow’s Pavilion, founded by a Sun Ring wizard, is a shop alliance that uses a large amount of magical creature leather to make wizard shoes. Because this Sun Ring wizard is also a magic shoemaker, a wizard of the Summoning School, and a senior wizarding instructor at Cassilos University of Arts, Cow’s Pavilion wasn’t exploited by Solas’s Barefoot like other leather wizard shoe shops.

This is because Solas’s Barefoot also makes leather wizard shoes.

The biggest challenge in acquiring leather wizard shoes lies in the leather’s susceptibility to deformation. A single pair of wizard shoes involves hundreds of processes, and a problem in any one of them will result in a shoe that resembles the original in form but lacks the essence, ultimately falling short in comfort. Therefore, a vast amount of technical expertise is required.

However, the craftsmanship and technical expertise once accumulated by the Cowherd’s Pavilion had already been stolen by Tacitus’s family infiltrators.

In other words, Solas could enter this niche realm of wizard shoes at any time, it’s just a matter of when the executioner’s blade will fall. The reason Bull’s Pavilion is still alive is only because its founder was tough and lucky; without the Augustus incident, it would have been defeated anyway.

Wanfan is a wizard shoe shop alliance at Quinjol University, mainly dealing in canvas wizard shoes and some special wizard shoes, such as those for entering the Elemental Planes and Hell Planes. But frankly, it’s just cobbling together a few niche areas that nobody cares about, and it could be acquired at any time because it can’t sustain itself.

Wanfan is one of the few decent wizard shoe shop alliances in Quinjol, Bull’s Pavilion is a wizard shoe shop at Cassilos University of Arts, and Hundred Jade Pearls was founded by a Sun Ring Wizard Instructor at a medium-to-large-scale wizarding academy in the Cassilos region.

Add to that the scattered alliances of small shops, the influence of Bonifaceus University—the Rose Council’s old rival—in the wizarding shoe market, Augustus’s influence on Locke’s side, and the scattered shops run by unlicensed individual shoemakers; this constitutes the entirety of the forces within the wizarding shoe market of Cloudswamp Wetlands.

Solas’s barefoot exploitation has already led to the collapse of most of the wizarding shoe shop alliances in this market.

At this moment, on the platform, seeing the situation spiraling out of control, the wizard Argos pondered and said to the witch Rose, “I’ve made up my mind.”

Rose asked him, “Director Argos, are you determined to destroy Augustus?”

The wizard Argos replied, “To think that would be to lower oneself, to believe that Augustus has truly reached the level of our Thoras Lightfoot. Therefore, I should put it more accurately: I’ve made up my mind to acquire Augustus. I hope you will cooperate. What do the other wizard shareholders and wizard agents think?”

Many wizards had long considered Augustus very troublesome, so naturally they had no objections.

Rose, however, raised an eyebrow. “You want to acquire Augustus? You’ve seen it yourself, he’s probably already sold dozens of pairs of second-ring wizard shoes. He’s making money right now, and you’re proposing to acquire him at this crucial moment? It’s ridiculous.”

“Knowing Locke as I do, he’ll never agree.”

Second-ring wizard shoes are for second-ring wizards, because one pair is equivalent to two second-ring magical artifacts. That means dozens of pairs are equivalent to over a hundred second-ring magical artifacts.

The total number of second-ring wizards is limited, hence this number is already quite high.

A physical wizard shoe shop, unless located in a popular wizarding market and possessing a top-tier brand that can attract attention, might not sell a single pair of second-ring wizard shoes in five years. And this is in Cloud Marsh Wetlands; in ordinary wizarding areas, even if a shop has the capacity to produce second-ring wizard shoes, it’s possible they won’t sell a single pair in ten or twenty years.

These high-ring wizard shoes are much easier to sell in the rental and bulk purchasing markets.

Argos’s lips curled into a smile. “That depends on how people use their skills.”

Argos flipped through Augustus’s files, a thoughtful expression on his face.

The witch Rose narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing him.

Half an hour later, the Solas Barefoot press conference ended abruptly. Everyone knew why Solas Barefoot had ended the press conference early—both the wizard audience and the wizards within Solas Barefoot knew the reason, but no one said it aloud.

Solas Barefoot’s monopoly plan had a bad start.

It had been disrupted by Augustus.

All the wizards present felt a sense of impending storm. This was no ordinary business conflict; it could even be the starting point of a conflict between the two major schools in the field of wizard shoes.

After the meeting, Argos quickly went to discuss things with his confidants, while the witch Rose stood with the wizard Aura, who took the opportunity to extend an olive branch to Rose.

“Ms. Rose, you should still have quite a few shop alliances under your control.”

“If you let me manage them for you, I can definitely increase the return on all your shop alliances. I estimate I can raise your return to thirty percent.”

Rose nodded, bowing to Wizard Aura, “Lord Aura, I’d better not for now. You know I’ve recently experienced some—unexpected setbacks. My shop alliances are somewhat scattered and small-scale, so I can’t use an advisor.”

“Lord Aura, you came to me to have me introduce you to Locke?”

Wizard Aura chuckled, “You can’t hide it from Ms. Rose. I heard that Mr. Augustine once helped you in a competition.”

Rose’s expression instantly turned icy. “Lord Aura, you’re mistaken. Locke and I have always been enemies. I have no connection with him whatsoever. My academic lineage and his are also enemies.”

“I truly cannot introduce you. You’d better find someone else.”

Wizard Aura watched the witch Rose leave quickly, a faint smile on his face. A Star Ring Wizard behind him raised an eyebrow, quite displeased.

“The manners of these Cloud Marsh Wetland people vary greatly. Some are extremely polite, while others show absolutely no courtesy. Lord Aura, you are of noble status, yet that witch Rose dared to treat you with such an attitude.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t even let her leave like that.”

Wizard Aura extended his left hand, signaling him not to continue. His smile remained unchanged.

“You should read the newspapers. I understand Rose the Witch is in a bad mood because she’s been betrayed by many people lately.

She was disrespectful to me, a Star Ring Wizard, despite her higher rank, so I certainly had reason to reprimand her. But it wasn’t necessary.”

Wizard Aura adjusted her heart-shaped glasses and smiled. “Don’t be too concerned about your wizarding background or magical rank. If we senior staff members of the committee act with that kind of mindset, we won’t get things done.”

“It seems I need to find another wizard to help me arrange a meeting with Mr. Locke Augustine. Also, this Rose the Witch seems worth befriending. On the surface, Argos holds a higher position and is more valued within the Rose lineage, but in that instant of contact, I began to doubt that conclusion I had so easily drawn.”

Meanwhile, Argos noticed that Augustine didn’t have his own production line. He looked at the eleven wizards before him—his long-time subordinates, assistants, and students from other wizarding communities, his trusted confidants. Otherwise, his arrival in Solas alone would have been a lone commander, unable to carry the load.

This combination of one Moon Ring Wizard, three Star Ring Wizards, two Second Ring Wizards, and five Crystallized Wizards was the source of his confidence in controlling Solas’s Light Footwork.

Argos said, “Hmm? I think I’ve discovered Augustus’s weakness.”

“We didn’t notice Augustus before, but now I officially consider him a shop alliance we must eliminate. Who wins and who loses is another matter.”

Meanwhile, on Golden Crown Mountain, in the laboratory of the Saffron Peach Garden, in a large, independent office, Locke sat in a chair, with an illusion screen in front of him, where the Elf Queen was speaking to him.

Ella Sun Ring said to Locke, “Congratulations, Wizard Locke. One hundred and ninety pairs of second-ring wizard shoes have been successfully sold, each pair still priced at two million magic stones. After deducting costs and profit sharing, I believe you can earn one hundred million magic stones from this single sale.

I had already applied for simultaneous sales through the Arthas channel throughout the entire Cloudze Wetlands for you.”

Locke was stunned by this sales figure.

He had sold one hundred and ninety pairs of wizard shoes?

These were actually high-value goods; although they were called wizard shoes, their intrinsic value was extremely high, yet one hundred and ninety second-ring wizards had chosen his shoes.

But why?

Why were so many second-ring wizards in Cloudze Wetlands wanting to buy second-ring wizard shoes at the same time?

The probability of natural damage to second-ring wizard shoes was relatively low, after all, they were second-ring magical plants or second-ring magical artifacts. That’s why the Magic Shoemakers’ Guild had to establish a regular automatic damage industry standard to avoid a

market decline and mass bankruptcies of shop alliances due to a lack of people willing to replace wizard shoes for extended periods.

In fact, these regulations did play a role in protecting the industry to some extent, but they were later exploited for profit.

Locke voiced his doubts.

At this moment, Queen Ella, whose distinctive elven wizard robes were stained with blood, looked at Locke with a puzzled expression.

“So Mr. Augustus didn’t know? I thought you already did. That’s why you launched the Starry Golden Dragon Claw Air Pineapple at this time. Turns out you didn’t know. Recently, the Wizarding World intersected with a large world in the void region. That large world is called the [Venom World]. It’s named that because the snake race in that world uses venom as their power system. As long as the venom isn’t destroyed, they can continuously regenerate from it. They’ve also invented many special snake venoms. These venoms all have control effects. And this large world happens to intersect with the trajectory above Cloud Marsh Wetland. In other words, at least three hundred wizarding academies in Cloud Marsh Wetland are hunting down the venomous snake race that has invaded the Wizarding World in different areas.”

“Ah, I suppose you were in Rain Marsh before, and then returned to Golden Crown Mountain, so you didn’t know. Your Golden Crown Mountain’s defensive magic array couldn’t possibly allow the venomous snake race and the Venom World to invade.”

“I haven’t heard anything about Golden Crown Mountain participating in the war. Perhaps you’re not really interested. However, because the snake venom is so potent—capable of poisoning wizards without breaking through the Permanent Defense Field and its shell—your wizard shoes, the Starry Golden Dragon Claw, have become highly sought after.”

Locke’s face showed astonishment.

Snake venom that can break through a wizard’s Permanent Defense Field?

That’s truly rare.

And it sounds like the wizarding world isn’t interested in that Great World.

Queen Ella asked Locke, “Locke, are you completely unaware of this news? Yes. Following Solas’s Blindfoot, you don’t need to expend resources and energy understanding these market changes; you can naturally seize opportunities. Solas’s Blindfoot’s Radiance 06 was developed specifically for these venomous snakes, to prevent being hit by their venom.” “

The Venomous World itself is submerged in venom; it’s said there’s a river of venom there that we classify as fourth-circle venom. The entire world is within this river of venom. The first Sun-ring wizard to discover that river is fortunate. Because the river is visible to the n*ked eye, yet it can be the subject of an article. Because of that river, the entire world is effectively immersed in fourth-circle venom; simply put, the entire world is quite useless.”

“However, according to our investigation, the Venomous World itself hasn’t escaped the trap of the second-ring levels. Therefore, their highest level, from Venom 1 to Venom 21—what they call the ‘World Serpent’ level—is only close to the magical pressure of a normal third-ring wizard, considered equivalent to a third-ring wizard. But such individuals are few and far between in the entire world. The real problem is that their world is surrounded by the River of Venom, rendering the entire world unusable. Currently, we don’t know how the River of Venom was formed, because the Serpent race clearly lacks the ability to create it. It might have formed at the very beginning of their world, or it might have been created by other powerful beings who perished on their world.” “

Currently, many second-ring wizards are seeking wizarding shoes that can cure poisons or counteract the Serpent race. They need to defend against the Serpent race and enter the Venomous World to investigate the specific reasons for the formation of the River of Venom, and whether the Serpent race is the native race of that world.”

“When Solas the Lightfoot held this press conference, he had already notified many wizarding academies that had a need for it. Therefore, as soon as your Starry Golden Dragon Claw was noticed at their press conference, it immediately aroused the interest of these wizards who already had a need for it. I thought you were cunning and had outmaneuvered Solas the Lightfoot.”

Queen Ella said with a wry smile, “It seems you really did get a great deal out of Solas the Lightfoot. You really didn’t know anything. This is just fate.”

“You seized the opportunity well. The main reason you were able to make so much money so quickly is that you outcompeted Solas’s Lightfoot products, who were originally going to make that money, and took away most of their business. I estimate that Solas’s Lightfoot is already holding a seminar to review their performance. They probably didn’t expect that you would achieve this without them even knowing it.”

Locke said, “It was a coincidence. Because the mystical meaning of Wang Bu Liu Xing is purification in flow—yes, Wang Bu Liu Xing is indeed a holy antidote. And using the 2X3 composite grafting cultivation method was entirely a coincidence, which could only be accomplished based on my achievement of the Great Magic Tree of Prosperity. Multiple coincidences accumulated, which allowed me to accidentally pluck the fruit of Solas’s Lightfoot.”

Queen Ella said, “It sounds like this is more than just luck. Opportunity always favors the prepared. You seized this opportunity with your strength, that’s undeniable.”

Locke asked, “Your Majesty, I would like to know if Arthas still has the ability to produce so many second-ring air plants within the agreed period?”

“With quality and quantity guaranteed?”

Queen Ella was silent for a moment. “The Hell faction has launched an invasion against us.”

“Our production capacity has indeed decreased. But we have made advance production reserves. Producing the air plants you cultivated before is no problem, and the Great Green Leaf Dragonfly is also possible. But your Starry Air Plant involves a 2×3 composite grafting cultivation method. This is not something an ordinary wizard can do.

” “Locke.”

“You are forced by reality to sell first and then think about how to obtain production capacity. Many wizards fall into economic crisis because of this.”

Queen Ella said, “You have placed so many orders now. If you cannot fulfill them on time, you will be in great danger. You will receive a bunch of summonses from the Holy Wizard Court. Locke, Arthas does have a basic storage production quota now. But your composite grafting cultivation process is really complicated.”

Locke frowned.

Queen Ella spoke up, “But I know a Moon Ring wizard from the Conjuration school who possesses the ability to use powerful magic from others with their authorization. I think he might be able to help you. I’m willing to help, as we’ve had a long-standing working relationship. I can try to ask the wizard for his opinion. However, I can’t guarantee he’ll agree or have the time. There are always unforeseen circumstances, Locke. You can also do some work on your end, making contingency plans in case the delivery isn’t on time.”

Locke breathed a sigh of relief; Arthas had indeed solved this problem for him.

Clearly, if he hadn’t collaborated with Arthas so many times, Arthas might not have provided the stored production capacity, or if he couldn’t communicate directly with Queen Ella, Arthas wouldn’t have been able to find a wizard with special, unorthodox abilities to solve his problem.

In short, he had indeed taken a slight risk this time.

However, overall, he knew that even if he took the risk of accepting the order early, he had to find a way to deliver it on time, no matter what. He had to

search the entire Cloud Marsh Wetlands, or even the Eastern Boundary, to find a solution, because there are so many unexpected events in this world, and he needed the ability to handle them and the composure to deal with sudden events. Originally, Locke had thought that if all else failed, he would have Arthas do part of the work, and he would spend some time completing the rest himself.

Although it would be tiring and time-consuming, preventing him from doing other things, it was better than breaching the contract.

But now it seemed there were other options.

Arthas was, after all, a long-established top-tier wizard shop alliance with a very deep foundation, but he didn’t know how many troops the Hell Plane had deployed to the Elf Great World. He still needed to find some channels to urgently address the crisis of the production chain disruption.