In the data management room of White Dragon Magic Gem University.

The director of the management room was an old First Circle wizard. He had originally been sitting motionless in his seat, but upon looking up and seeing it was Alicia, he quickly stood up from his position, received her with extreme enthusiasm, and pushed aside a first-rate wizard apprentice student who had originally come to serve them.

This old wizard's attitude toward Locke also became extremely ingratiating because of this. He handed Locke a compiled file and said, "Mr. Augustine, here are all the projects at our White Dragon Magic University that were stopped halfway through. Please review them."

Locke looked at this file and quickly read through it once. The materials were very detailed, even including these projects' budget application forms and budget verification forms, which allowed him to see exactly what reasons these projects were terminated for.

Locke selected for a long while, and the old wizard director didn't dare rush him.

After all, Alicia was right beside them. She was waiting quietly on the side.

Locke pointed at a project and looked up at Alicia, saying, "Alicia, this special-grade potion studies project was stopped halfway through because the goal was too distant. It's simply impossible to research at the First Circle stage, but the funding, equipment, and personnel are all available, and their research direction has a certain relationship and data foundation with the Spirit Spring Soul Surge Potion upgrade I want to do."

"So I want this project group."

Alicia walked over, glanced at it, and nodded. "Indeed, this special research project's family investment funds and association subsidy funds together have had nearly over five hundred thousand magic stones invested."

"As a result, they actually produced nothing."

"Oh, I see. They were actually researching using lichen-type magical plants to develop potions that could resurrect the dead. How could such an absurd thing be listed as a special research project?"

As a potion master, Alicia naturally knew just how ridiculous this research goal was.

All potions in the entire First Circle stage couldn't truly resurrect the dead.

That wasn't something that could be researched at the First Circle stage.

Alicia quickly looked at the project application form related to this project in the materials, and her expression became even more unsightly.

Setting aside that this application form had a disjointed preface and afterword, looking as if the applicant had randomly found several first-rate wizard apprentice students to flip through materials and cobble it together.

Just the fact that this application form had a whole pile of typos could explain how perfunctory the person writing this application form had been at the time.

And this application form could actually successfully apply for a Plutarch family special research project and obtain First Circle research funding from the association branch. It was simply laughable.

Alicia looked at the applicant's name and was immediately speechless. "The applicant is my uncle, Erik Plutarch. He's not even a potion master, just a bloodline refiner."

"He doesn't have a single article related to potion studies in his hands, nor a single project related to potion studies. But it's exactly this kind of person whose potion studies project obtained First Circle funding from the association of the Land of Six Towers."

Alicia sighed slightly and said softly to Locke, "Perhaps I've been away for too long. Just now returning, I've discovered that much of the Land of Six Towers' beauty perhaps came with the filter of my youthful memories."

"This place may not be as good as that, but it may not be as bad either."

"Locke, this project is yours. In any case, Uncle Erik has already obtained quite a bit of money and property through this project. I think he probably stopped caring about this project long ago and is eager to get rid of it instead."

The White Wizard Association had a committee that would specifically review the completion status of projects that successfully applied for funding.

Although here, the relevant committee within this association was probably also all family wizards, there was also the possibility that people from White Wizard Association headquarters might suddenly conduct spot checks.

This was a probability issue.

So a project that had already been harvested was equivalent to a hot potato. Therefore, Erik Plutarch probably wanted to throw it out if he could.

Locke nodded and said, "I've looked at the relevant data for this project. Some data doesn't look like pure fabrication. I estimate there are some wizards doing real work in this project. They did conduct certain research, and all seven nectars in the Spirit Spring Soul Surge Potion are nectars from lichen-type magical plants."

"However, I can decide the general direction myself. I just need equipment, funding, capable manpower, and some preliminary yet complex basic data. So this project is perfect for me."

Alicia nodded. "Locke, giving you this project is actually helping me tremendously. I really don't know how to thank you. You're helping me optimize our family's projects and businesses."

"You're such a reliable person."

Alicia looked at Locke with eyes full of a hazy emotion.

At first, she approached Locke out of curiosity. Later, she approached Locke because she wanted to exchange potion studies knowledge with him and progress together. But now approaching Locke was because Locke emanated a kind of reliable aura. Under this aura, her uneasy heart found it difficult to resist this attraction.

Alicia said softly to Locke, "Locke, are there any other projects you want? As acting family head, I can make decisions for you."

Locke nodded. He knew that opportunities like this were rare. He currently only had one hundred twenty thousand magic stones in savings. If he wanted to develop relatively large projects, the money would definitely not be enough.

The opportunity to rely on a prestigious family in this region to develop large projects was relatively rare and uncommon.

He'd better seize the opportunity and add achievements to his résumé.

The one hundred twenty thousand magic stones he had on hand were only able to be sent over because Senior Irina went through a family bank opened by a fairy race family operating between the Land of Six Towers and the southeastern quadrant.

Actually, it couldn't really be called sending over, because sending items required consuming massive resources. Perhaps by the time one hundred twenty thousand magic stones were halfway sent, half their value would already be consumed.

But if it was just transmitting information, that was another matter entirely.

For instance, using a cracked version of the gray stone tablet could transmit information between two locations almost free of charge.

So cunning fairy races opened banks in both locations, using this mechanism to transmit information, allowing any wizards to exchange corresponding magic crystal cards at banks in both locations while extracting a 0.5% service fee.

He only needed to pay some service fees to transfer money earned in both locations. It was quite worthwhile.

Locke pointed at the project application form and said, "Besides that, I also want this project. This special-grade project researching gem succulents, I think actually still has quite promising prospects for success. But it's clear that the wizard who wrote this application form and the wizard doing this project are absolutely not the same person, so even though this project has such good prospects, it has almost stagnated due to years without discoveries."

"This is really too regrettable."

"Organize the data and find the parts that are still usable. Maybe the gem succulent mentioned in the application form that stores light particles for self-detonation can be experimented successfully."

Locke valued this project not only for its possibility of success, but also because he really needed a consumable First Circle magical plant like Crystal Palm Fire Lotus as a strategic reserve. It could also be sold externally and might potentially earn some high-value competition awards in the future.

Using this project's current foundation, he could completely make the magical plants he synthesized perform even better. It was much more convenient than conducting synthesis purely on his own.

Alicia said, "However, of these two research institutes, only this potion studies project is in the White Dragon Tower. This gem research is over at Louis Mine..." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Alicia hesitated. "And according to the rules, you external potion masters cannot leave the White Dragon Tower casually, otherwise there would be the possibility of leaking Grand Wizard Sulla's current condition. But Locke, you're an exception. You're one of our own, so you don't need to follow this rule."

"You can go wherever you want." Alicia handed Locke a white dragon-shaped ring. "This magic ring is a First Circle magic artifact. Inside, it replicates some basic permissions of my emblem in the White Dragon Tower. With it, you can move freely inside the White Dragon Tower and mobilize resources and manpower within my Plutarch family's sphere of influence."

"You also don't need to worry about being suppressed by the White Dragon Tower. I possess the highest-level permissions in the White Dragon Tower aside from grandfather's, so the permissions I'm giving you are theoretically at the same level as the emblem permissions in my uncle's and my mother's hands. This way, they won't be able to mobilize the White Dragon Tower's energy core, the Elemental Well's power, to suppress you."