The First Circle wizard responsible for receiving them was a wizard named Matthew Fleming. He wore a blue-gray interwoven wizard robe and greeted Locke and Daniel, then spoke to them with a respectful but distant tone, "You two must be Researcher Augustine and Researcher Brook."

"I am Matthew Fleming. You can just call me Wizard Matthew. I am also a researcher at the Origin Academy. At the same time, I am the wizard from Dragon Fern Garden responsible for receiving you. These first-class wizard apprentices are all students jointly cultivated within Dragon Fern Garden."

"In other words, students who will assist you. Well, some of them may become your students in the future."

Wizard Matthew explained concisely, "Please follow me. I will specifically explain Golden Crown Mountain Academy and our Advanced Origin Academy to you both, and take you to report at the Origin Academy."

"Your belongings will be transported by these students. For large valuable items, please clearly inform these students, as these apprentices can easily damage expensive items."

Locke shrugged his shoulders, "I don't have anything to move."

Wizard Daniel said, "I do, though. I have a hurricane speed meter and a polarized light variance instrument, still on the airship. I was just looking for someone to help me move them."

"Those two large instruments are extremely precise. I can't carelessly put them into my astral ring, as I'm afraid the magical energy will affect the instruments' precision. They need to be carried by hand."

Wizard Daniel looked at the eight first-class wizard apprentices responsible for reception and said, "Moreover, you cannot use any magic to carry them. As long as you don't use magic to move them, then these two instruments won't have any damage problems."

Wizard Daniel explained to Locke and Wizard Matthew, "The protective devices on those two instruments themselves are quite secure. Physical means can hardly affect them."

The eight first-class wizard apprentices immediately bowed respectfully to him and indicated they would comply and transport them carefully.

After all, both Locke and Wizard Daniel might become their future supervising instructors. Plus, they were both official wizards, so no student dared to offend them.

Wizard Matthew nodded. "That's good. Weather mages traveling are indeed inconvenient."

"Weather mages have too many large equipment pieces."

Wizard Matthew looked at the Druid’s Ring worn on Locke's left hand. "A Druid’s Ring? Good item."

Wizard Matthew also raised his right hand, revealing the Druid’s Ring he wore, "Look, I also have one. Having a Druid’s Ring to carry around makes many things much more convenient for us breeders."

The eight first-class wizard apprentices went to help Wizard Daniel transport the instruments. The instruments would be sent directly to Wizard Daniel's dormitory, so Wizard Daniel didn't need to worry about it at all.

The two followed Wizard Matthew toward the Origin Academy.

On the way up the mountain, Wizard Matthew raised his right hand, showing Locke the remaining four rings he wore on his right hand. "However, I feel that wearing just one Druid’s Ring isn't quite enough, so you see..."

"These are the Four Elements Rings."

Locke raised an eyebrow. "What are those?"

Wizard Matthew smiled. "I entered Cloud Marsh Wetland three years earlier than you two, so I've been able to access more and more advanced breeder equipment here. The Druid’s Ring is indeed good, but that's old stuff. The Four Elements Rings are popular recently. Each of these four magic rings is a treasure."

"An elemental plane ring is forged from a specific attribute half-plane. For example, my Ring of Fire was forged from an Elemental Plane: Fire Position half-plane."

"The four rings correspond to the four basic elemental particles: earth, water, fire, and wind."

"Using these four rings to continuously channel energy into the Druid’s Ring can help the Druid’s Ring obtain an energy circulation almost equivalent to the main material plane. This point is particularly important."

As a weather mage, Wizard Daniel only half understood, but Locke, as a breeder, naturally understood how important having energy circulation completely identical to the main material plane was for breeding.

The various circulations inside the Druid’s Ring he currently carried all simulated the real world, but were not the real world.

However, if he also had the Four Elements Rings, utilizing the energy of the four elemental half-planes, he could make the space inside the Druid’s Ring identical to reality.

This way, many experiments that could only be done in reality, magical plants that could only be cultivated in reality, could all be done within the Druid’s Ring.

Moreover, there were many other wonderful uses.

Just thinking about it, Locke found it excellent.

Locke said to Wizard Matthew, "Hearing Researcher Matthew explain it this way, the function of these Four Elements Rings is indeed very significant."

"Cloud Marsh Wetland's breeding studies are truly developing rapidly. However, these four rings must be very expensive."

Wizard Matthew nodded, a flash of pain crossing his eyes. "The four rings together cost a total of eight hundred thousand magic stones. If I didn't have special needs, I wouldn't have purchased such expensive rings."

"In fact, I... let me be honest with you both, Researchers." Wizard Matthew said, "I purchased these four rings through a loan. Our loan industry and financial industry in Cloud Marsh Wetland are more developed. You both will be able to see this in the future."

"Loan consumption is quite common here." Wizard Matthew said, "After all, the money you can borrow actually counts as your money too."

"It's just that the money I have to repay each month is truly distressing."

"And once you can't repay the money, it becomes very troublesome. Those wizards you encountered setting up stalls after getting off the airship are basically all wizards who owe others many loans. However, most are definitely not wizards from our Golden Crown Mountain, but official wizards from small wizard organizations outside."

"Advance consumption is a great temptation. There will always be people who incorrectly estimate their future income, resulting in an inability to repay loans."

The three soon reached the foot of the mountain. Over a hundred treants at the foot of the mountain actively bowed to the three of them.

A massive banyan treant walked over. This treant possessed First Circle crystallization-level magical pressure, but seemed to be merely a treant guarding the gate at the foot of Golden Crown Mountain Academy.

A rain cloud followed atop the banyan treant's head. After it approached, the temperature dropped somewhat out of nowhere.

The banyan treant glanced at Wizard Matthew and made a slow but powerful sound. "Little Matthew, you've returned. These two are our Golden Crown Mountain's new members, right?"

"Hahaha..."

The banyan treant got stuck once each time it laughed because of its slow speech, making it sound quite peculiar.

Wizard Matthew introduced Locke and Daniel to the banyan treant. Wizard Matthew said to Locke and the others, "This is Elder Banyan Guru, responsible for guarding the entrance to Golden Crown Mountain."

"He's been guarding the gate at Golden Crown Mountain for many years. Although he has no teaching position, his status is not low. He's an old-timer of Golden Crown Mountain."

"Many Second Circle wizards are his friends."

"After all, everyone has to ask Guru to open the gate when they return."

"Those treants are all children adopted by Guru. There are actually more. The treant clan signed a contract with our Golden Crown Mountain, and we are allies. During peacetime, Guru guards Golden Crown Mountain, and during wartime..." Wizard Matthew said, "I don't know either."

"Because no one has dared to launch a wizard war against Golden Crown Mountain."

Guru determined that all three were wizards of Golden Crown Mountain and actively made way, revealing the deep path behind him that led up the mountain, hidden by life magic.

"Please, you three. If you need transportation up the mountain, I can have some of my children who walk fast and are strong, those ash treants and baobab treants, carry you up the mountain."

Wizard Matthew said, "That won't be necessary."

Wizard Matthew explained in a low voice, "Even the fastest-walking treants are actually very slow, and... they charge money."

"In the Cloud Marsh lands, you need money to do anything."

"Without money, you can't move an inch!"

Daniel curiously asked Matthew, "Researcher Matthew, you should be finishing your stint at the Advanced Research Academy soon, right? After all, it's been three years." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Wizard Matthew turned back and blinked, then after thinking, said, "Oh, you don't quite understand the situation at Golden Crown Mountain's Origin Academy."

"You've misunderstood. I'm not from the Advanced Origin Academy. I'm from the Ordinary Origin Academy. Golden Crown Mountain's Advanced Origin Academy, including you two, has only thirteen people total. Almost every one is either the school's most outstanding First Circle wizard or the undisputed champion of some inter-wizard land competition, truly favored children of heaven."

"But there are a total of one hundred eighty researchers in Golden Crown Mountain's Ordinary Origin Academy combined. I'm one of them."

"However, even though that's the case, I don't feel inferior."

Wizard Matthew explained, "Whether they're researchers from the Advanced Origin Academy or researchers from the Ordinary Origin Academy, we're all within one evaluation system, and we all have a point-based last place elimination system."

"After all, there's still a large group of wizards eagerly awaiting our Origin Academy positions, so every year those ranked in the last thirty points are eliminated, to encourage us to reasonably utilize the resources within the Origin Academy."

"After eliminating those who lag behind in points, the outside wizards who have been waiting for a year directly fill these remaining four years of Origin Academy quota time, continuing to work and entering the next round of point elimination."

Wizard Matthew said, "Those eliminated from the Ordinary Origin Academy also have a ranking order. Those ranked higher have a great chance of waiting the second year for a replacement opportunity. Therefore, many wizards would rather wait outside for a year, observing the situation, than go elsewhere to take teaching positions."

"There are only so many positions, but the people eyeing them... are far too many."

"Although you two are favored children of heaven from the Advanced Origin Academy, the problem is that you in the Advanced Origin Academy almost all have to independently work on related projects from your collaborative supervisors. Unlike us researchers from the Ordinary Origin Academy, who can join forces to work on projects assigned to us by collaborative supervisors, so the difficulty we challenge is completely different."

"We can work together with several people, and we also have experiences from previous senior brothers and sisters. But you have no support."

"Last year, there was a wizard from the Advanced Origin Academy who was eliminated because they weren't accustomed to independently and autonomously doing projects completely on their own."

"Cloud Marsh Wetland's project requirements and work style are completely different from outside, with higher requirements, even harsh ones. Under these circumstances, to still be able to independently do projects... I really can't imagine. Each of us who comes here already has to experience tremendous ideological progress, contacting cutting-edge fields we've never encountered before. And at the same time, you in the Advanced Origin Academy... actually have to be completely independent and autonomous."

"You two must have received some help from your teachers in the past, right?"

"I wish you both good luck."

Wizard Matthew looked at Locke and Daniel and said, "Of course, seeing a favored child of heaven from the Advanced Origin Academy eliminated by last place ranking is a tragedy no one wants to see."

"With your abilities, you certainly won't let this tragedy happen again."

"I also don't want to see this happen."

Wizard Matthew turned to look at the two. "Congratulations to you both for arriving in a brand new world."