Inside the castle commercial building of Dragon Blood Gathering, within the Witch Kitchen.

Gregor didn't dare sit beside Locke. Instead, he received three cups of Duckhead Green Tea brewed using the cold drip method from a wizard apprentice server.

Then he placed two cups on the table, handing them respectively to his mentor Locke and the professional manager wizard from the Shop Alliance.

The last cup he held in his own hands, cradling the cup of Duckhead Green Tea as he began drinking.

The cold drip method was a new tea brewing method innovated by tea masters, a branch of breeders. Using condensed water from melting ice to brew tea, its taste was clear and crisp with prominent sweetness, bringing out the flavor of Duckhead Green Tea to the extreme. It was also a specialty meal item launched by the Witch Kitchen on the Cloud Marsh Wetland side.

The Three Marsh Lands, as the home of wizard tea, had local wizards here who pursued the taste and quality of wizard tea with higher demands than wizards from other wizard lands.

Locke placed his teacup to the side, then said to the Second Circle wizard before him, "Wizard Tyrence sir, what matter brings you to find me?"

The professional manager of the Arthas Plantation Shop Alliance, Wizard Tyrence Dogu, smiled at Locke. "No matter how many times I drink it, I still find Duckhead Tea brewed with the cold drip method delicious."

"Speaking of which, the Cloud Marsh Wetland Witch Kitchen's Landbridge branch recently launched a new tea. Peach Blossom Brew Red Tea prepared using steam from boiling hot water has a mellow and fragrant entrance that leaves an endless aftertaste with overflowing aroma."

Wizard Tyrence appeared to truly love drinking wizard tea, so he said to a flavor master from the Witch Kitchen, "Two more cups of Peach Blossom Brew. I'll pay."

Soon, a wizard apprentice server carried a tray and brought up two steaming cups of Peach Blossom Brew.

Locke took a light sip of the Peach Blossom Brew. Immediately, he felt a refreshing rich fragrance explode between his tongue and teeth, as if it were the first ray of sunlight on a spring day, like the sunrise at dawn.

The residual potion toxicity in his body was completely cleared. Beyond that, his energy recovered to its peak, and he even felt more inspired.

Many wizard teas had effects of purifying potion toxicity, recovering energy, and increasing inspiration, so wizards had a long tradition of drinking coffee and tea while doing research.

Locke said, "This Peach Blossom Brew truly has a distinctly different flavor."

"As expected of wizard tea that costs 3,000 magic stones per cup."

Honestly, this price was frighteningly high. Most First Circle wizards absolutely wouldn't drink it unless entertaining important guests, and even then only extremely important guests.

This wizard tea's target customers were probably Second Circle and above wizards.

But considering just taste, it was absolutely delicious beyond measure, making people linger and forget to return.

After drinking Peach Blossom Brew, drinking other wizard teas would only leave regret in one's heart.

He really didn't know what flavor the even higher-grade wizard teas from Landbridge would have.

Wizard Tyrence smiled. "Right? Wizard Locke, as expected, you're also a wizard who knows how to appreciate wizard tea. Then we'll have much common ground for conversation."

"Being able to receive praise from Wizard Hao sir and have him determine you'll definitely become a Second Circle wizard in the future is an extremely high compliment."

Wizard Tyrence said, "I'll keep this brief and speak directly. I'm finding you this time because I want to discuss commercial cooperation."

Locke looked calmly at Wizard Tyrence.

He wasn't surprised by this point. Otherwise, why would Wizard Tyrence, an ordinary Second Circle wizard serving as professional manager of the Arthas Plantation Alliance, come find him?

Wizard Tyrence said frankly to Locke, "I listened to that defense meeting just now. Wizard Locke is very talented at excavating magical plant mechanism pathways. But this kind of basic research only has reference value for us at the Arthas Shop Alliance. It doesn't have much practical significance."

"Even discovering unknown natural magic structure components requires conversion through potion studies, lightning studies, and various other disciplines before possibly becoming something with actual production value for our Shop Alliance."

Wizard Tyrence said, "So I'm not finding you because of that. I'm finding you because of the Hydra magical plant."

Locke wasn't surprised by this either.

In fact, after the Cloud Marsh Cup, a whole bunch of people had already sought him out for cooperation, wizards from all sides.

He had refused many.

Because among them were mixed good and bad. Some genuinely wanted to cooperate with him but lacked sufficient strength, while some wizards wanted to see if they could profit from him.

Moreover, since he was coming to Cloud Marsh Wetland, he had refused all previous cooperation invitations.

Seeing Locke still not speaking, a flash of appreciation appeared in Wizard Tyrence's eyes. "As expected of the Eye Demon Wizard, truly calm and composed."

"Let's get straight to the point. The Arthas Plantation Shop Alliance is a large commercial group of numerous magical plant shops and magical plant-related industry chains, with massive amounts of magical plant-related industries under us and complete distribution channels."

"And we want to reach cooperation with Wizard Locke on producing the Hydra magical plant to sell in the magical plant shops under us."

"Our Shop Alliance generally uses two conventional methods to complete transactions. One is a one-time transaction. You provide the technology and Hydra magical plant seeds, and we provide you with a lump sum of magic stones that will satisfy you in one go."

"The advantage of this is you can instantly get a large sum of magic stones. Whatever you want to do, you can do."

"This is equivalent to a technology buyout."

Wizard Tyrence said, "The second type is sales profit-sharing and licensing authorization."

"Our Arthas Plantation Shop Alliance can pay you an authorization fee, then reach cooperation with you. For every magical plant sold afterward, you can get a share of money."

Wizard Tyrence said, "Generally speaking, for breeders without much fame, we adopt the first method, the buyout system."

"But you're the Cloud Marsh Cup champion and Golden Crown Mountain's senior researcher, so we can also have the second option of profit-sharing system plus licensing system cooperation."

Locke understood.

These two cooperation forms both depended on the individual breeder's strength. Low strength meant one-time cooperation, and it had benefits for them too—instantly getting a large sum of money.

High strength meant tending toward profit-sharing cooperation. Although eventually they might get slightly more money, the money came slowly, and the middle was full of unstable factors.

If the project couldn't be implemented, or if sales didn't reach expected values, then it might not be as good as buyout cooperation.

Locke probed, asking, "Could I reach some other aspects of commercial cooperation with your Shop Alliance?"

Wizard Tyrence was stunned. "Wizard Locke, what aspect of commercial cooperation are you referring to? I don't understand your meaning."

Locke said, "I mean, could we do this—I and the Arthas Shop Alliance jointly open a shareholding shop."

"Or I could invest with technology in one of your existing branch shops."

Jointly opening shops was his cooperation method with the Plutarch family of the Land of Six Towers. Technology investment was his cooperation method with Lady Irina of the southeastern quadrant.

His cooperation method with Lilith's Cottage academy was similar to an employment salary system.

Wizard Tyrence was stunned, then smiled. "Wizard Locke, it's not that I'm refusing. But not just our Arthas Shop Alliance—even other Shop Alliances in the Three Marsh Lands couldn't possibly reach similar cooperation with you."

"To jointly open shops with Three Marsh Lands Shop Alliances or invest with technology, even we Second Circle wizards don't have the qualifications. Only star ring stage among Second Circle wizards, that is, sun ring Second Circle wizards have qualifications."

"That's the cooperation method between Shop Alliances and Third Circle wizards. These two cooperation methods do exist, but generally speaking, they belong to Third Circle wizard privileges."

Locke nodded slightly.

Actually, he roughly knew some of the situation, having already received so many cooperation invitations.

He spoke out just to try.

Since it couldn't be done due to objective reasons, then so be it.

After all, it was still because his magical level was too low.

Presumably, when Second Circle level breeders cooperated with shop alliances, there should also be some privileges belonging to Second Circle wizards.

This was all reasonable.

After all, when he became a Second Circle wizard in the future, he would also enjoy these privileges.

Wizard Tyrence said, "But cooperating with our Arthas Alliance has an advantage that those individual wizard cooperations, wizard family, or wizard academy cooperations don't have."

"That is stability and maturity."

Wizard Tyrence took out a large pile of contracts from his astral ring. "We have mature cooperation systems to rely on. The Shop Alliance's shareholders are also a huge number of high-circle wizards. In other words, the Shop Alliance won't change because of individuals or even several high-circle wizards' wills."

"Pursuing profit, desiring profit—this is the only goal for the existence of this collective called the Arthas Shop Alliance."

"Even Third Circle wizards cannot change the Shop Alliance's nature."

"Our Shop Alliance has three major forces for internal supervision: the Wizard Shareholders' Meeting, Wizard Council, and Wizard Supervisory Committee."

Locke knew what this Second Circle wizard before him was saying.

Essentially, the Shop Alliance possessed certainty in its desire for profit and complete cooperation systems. Cooperating with the Shop Alliance, he didn't need to worry about being cheated.

Or being unable to make money due to various objective reasons.

As long as there was the slightest money-making opportunity, the Shop Alliance would grasp it more eagerly than himself, the Hydra magical plant's developer, and bring him wealth.

In a sense, the Shop Alliance was no longer a dead thing, a sum total of numerous wizards.

But rather a large existence composed of shops, industrial parks, and wizards combined, yet more than the sum of these component parts.

Cloud Marsh Wetland's large wizard organizations had two forms.

One was universities like Golden Crown Mountain and Bonifacius. The other was those Shop Alliances.

Cooperating with wizard universities was fine for research, but for making money together, the fastest method was still cooperating with Wizard Alliances.

From the start, Locke wanted to cooperate with Cloud Marsh Wetland's major breeder Shop Alliances. Cloud Marsh Wetland had two super-large plantation Shop Alliances. One was Arthas, the other was Frankfurt.

It was just that currently Arthas Plantation Shop Alliance came to find him first.

Locke asked the key point. "Then, Wizard Tyrence sir, can you tell me how much magic stones the Arthas Plantation Alliance wants to give me for cooperating with these two cooperation methods respectively?"

Wizard Tyrence said, "Of course. This is what I should do."

"As you know, for our Shop Alliance, we have different strategic cooperation methods for different level wizards. First Circle, Second Circle, Third Circle, even Fourth Circle, and wizard apprentices all have different cooperation methods. Like those wizard apprentices, they can generally only cooperate with individual shops. It's almost impossible to cooperate directly with our Shop Alliance."

"For ordinary First Circle wizards, generally ordinary project managers from the Shop Alliance negotiate cooperation with them, usually adopting the first method."

Wizard Tyrence introduced himself. "I'm a senior manager of the Arthas Shop Alliance in the Golden Crown Mountain region, managing the shops, industrial parks, and industry chains under the Arthas Shop Alliance in this area."

"If adopting the first method, I can directly issue a contract buying out your Hydra magical plant's two-year exclusive sales qualification at Arthas shops. I can pay one million magic stones for this."

"If adopting the second method, we can sign a two-year authorization agreement and profit-sharing agreement. The authorization fee can be paid to you in one go—500,000 magic stones. At the same time, later you and Arthas split fifty-fifty. Every sales profit must give you fifty percent."

"Fifty percent of net profit after deducting costs."

Fifty percent?

Locke calculated. Actually, the Arthas Shop Alliance truly deserved to be a mature large commercial alliance.

In cooperation with him, the Plutarch family only gave him twenty percent of the money. Lady Irina, besides paying a fixed 60,000 magic stones monthly, only paid him 10% of net profit.

But the Arthas Shop Alliance was undoubtedly more confident in its platform, directly paying him 500,000 magic stones with still fifty percent of profits available to share with him afterward.

Locke said, "The mass production technology for the Hydra magical plant hasn't been completely finished yet."

Wizard Tyrence said, "I naturally know. I'm also a breeder and watched the Cloud Marsh Cup competition. So I know. But mass-producing your Hydra is very simple."

"From my experience, with just 100,000 magic stones in resources, mass production development can probably be completed. The Hydra magical plant you developed is already very complete. You just need to do a final 'backcross' to stabilize seed characteristics so offspring don't degenerate."

"I know what you're worried about. When developing the Hydra, you used variegation mutation technology. Variegation mutation might weaken the offspring seeds' reproductive ability. But I believe variegation mutation's side effects won't be that obvious, especially for your Hydra magical plant. I've watched your competition records. I believe your Hydra magical plant wasn't overly affected."

"We Arthas have many magical field experimental areas in Golden Crown Mountain. I can lend you one for free to complete the backcross there."

Wizard Tyrence said, "The magic stones you need to complete mass production can be paid by our Arthas Shop Alliance. This doesn't matter."

Locke nodded slightly.

Looking at it this way, signing a cooperation agreement with the Arthas Shop Alliance wasn't bad. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Moreover, Locke was more inclined toward profit-sharing.

One million magic stones for two years to sell out the Hydra's exclusive sales and product development for two years—honestly, it was somewhat not worth it.

Only wizards truly short of money would do this.

But it could indeed obtain one million magic stones in a short time to resolve urgent needs.

But although he was short of money, he wasn't so desperate. He didn't need to sell his work cheaply for two years.

That was the Cloud Marsh Cup championship work.

The Hydra magical plant was very special. Wizards in many wizard organizations would be interested in it.

Choosing profit-sharing would undoubtedly allow him to gain more benefits.

However, Locke had a question. "There's one issue."

"Wizard Tyrence sir."

Wizard Tyrence took a sip of Peach Blossom Brew Red Tea. "Please speak, Brother Locke."

Locke said, "Why only cooperate for two years?"

"I originally thought there would be longer-term cooperation."

Wizard Tyrence smiled bitterly. "Please don't worry. This is also so both sides can cooperate better. Moreover, this cooperation method has been proven over long periods to indeed be more suitable for cooperation between us wizards."

"This medium-to-short-term cooperation makes it easier for us to adjust contracts and cooperation terms at any time. This has great benefits for both of us."

"Moreover, you have your concerns." Wizard Tyrence spread his hands helplessly. "I also have my concerns."

"Shop Alliances in the Three Marsh Lands rarely sign overly long cooperation contracts with wizards for first-time cooperation."

"There are many reasons. First, the Hydra magical plant is undoubtedly an excellent magical plant, but the Arthas Alliance isn't too clear about its specific value because it's something that has never appeared before. Then no matter how we price it, it won't satisfy both of us."

"So we simply only set a price for a short period."

"This way, it's easier to turn a small boat."

Wizard Tyrence said, "There are also other reasons. Past experience tells us that for wizards, overly long contracts... often end in a mess."

"So before both sides establish confidence in each other, let's still sign medium-to-short-term cooperation."

"All Shop Alliances do this."

Locke nodded slightly. Indeed, that made sense.

Obviously, Wizard Tyrence's meaning was that if Hydra sales didn't meet the Arthas Shop Alliance's expectations, they could downgrade their contract level with him at any time or terminate their contract.

But conversely, the Arthas Shop Alliance was also bearing considerable risk. For example, if the Hydra magical plant sold extremely well and became wildly popular.

And the Frankfurt Shop Alliance also took a liking to the Hydra, and he only signed a two-year contract with Arthas, this would become Frankfurt's opportunity.

This was a result that integrated both sides' interests after both sides' game.

Honestly, Locke quite liked it.

Not doing one-time deals but eating rice bite by bite—this way the situation wouldn't occur where he sold the Hydra at a loss and could only swallow this hidden loss.

Locke estimated this system probably wasn't formed from the start but was summarized by the Shop Alliance in commercial practice.

After all, wizards controlled knowledge and power.

Any formal wizard possessing a permanent defensive field, as long as they seriously wanted to cause destruction, could always cause destruction to some degree.

It was just a matter of how much.

The appearance of the turtle shell called permanent defensive field granted formal wizards the possibility of still causing certain destruction even before more powerful and numerous wizards than them.

Precisely because of the permanent defensive field's existence, there was a consensus in the wizard world.

When a wizard possessed a permanent defensive field, they were an adult in this wizard world.

They possessed the ability and power to protect themselves, harm others, and make choices.

Therefore, these Shop Alliances deliberately set such contracts that took both sides' interests into account, precisely to make cooperators completely convinced.

Wizard Tyrence smiled bitterly. "There's also something related to me personally. These commercial cooperations start at millions, especially cooperation projects related to high-value magical plants like the Hydra."

"As you saw, just two years starts at one million magic stones. What about ten years, twenty years, fifty years, or one hundred years?"

"Or a complete buyout?"

"The number of magic stones to pay out would be too large. I can't make that decision." Wizard Tyrence said, "For senior managers like us, signing contracts also carries risk. If this project succeeds, we'll have merit. If it fails, we must bear responsibility."

"It will somewhat affect advancement." Wizard Tyrence said, "I still want to be promoted to Arthas regional manager. High positions within the Shop Alliance are bound to specific teaching positions. Arthas regional managers all concurrently serve as wizard mentor teaching positions in the Supreme Truth Council, that is, the White Wizard Association."

"And wizard mentor teaching positions mean resources."

"They're proper wizard mentor teaching positions recognized by the White Wizard Association, not internal benefit positions fabricated by other academies."

Wizard Tyrence said, "So I also don't dare make the decision to extend the time range for first-time cooperation. No Shop Alliance wizard manager dares do this. But if cooperation goes well, we can continue cooperating."

Locke thought for a moment. He still needed to find a Cloud Marsh Wetland local to help him review the contract. After all, he had just arrived in Cloud Marsh.

Better safe than sorry.

But thinking left and right, Locke discovered that the good friend he knew in Cloud Marsh Wetland was Wizard Daniel. After all, he had only been here four and a half months.

But if he asked him, he definitely wouldn't know.

But he only had his contact information, and also...

Locke took out from his astral ring the Lingzhi magical plant connected to the water hyacinth network system. Its name was actually Wish Lingzhi.

It was a First Circle functional magical plant.

It could connect with the water hyacinth magical plant system covering the cloud lake surface. It was Cloud Marsh Wetland's communication system, capable of transmitting text, images, and sound information through the water hyacinth system.

The Wish Lingzhi in Locke's hand flashed with magical radiance. Then the Lingzhi magical plant began scanning the contract content and sending it to Wizard Kelt.

The Lingzhi magical plant was a communication tool freely borrowed from Group Six, but he hadn't used it much before. He hadn't even obtained Witch Mason's contact information. Only because he often needed to find Kelt to apply for various things did he add his contact.

At this moment, after thinking it over, Locke could only find Wizard Kelt.

Who knew that as soon as Locke sent the message, Wizard Kelt immediately responded.

The Wish Lingzhi projected a magical radiance, transforming into an illusory magic screen only Locke could see. The magic screen's edges had water ripples, like swirling eddies.

It was actually a communication panel similar to the southeastern quadrant's gray stone tablet.

Wizard Kelt rapidly sent a string of text messages—'Locke, where are you? What is this contract?'

'I have many things I want to tell you!'

Wizard Tyrence saw this scene and showed an understanding expression.

He leaned back in his chair, waiting for Locke to finish consulting with someone.