Chapter 75: Chapter 75

Yuri held her forehead, showing a helpless expression. "Locke, you really shouldn't discuss a lady's age."

She became serious and answered earnestly, "This is an aging curse. You'll soon learn about the enormous gap between formal wizards and first-class apprentices..."

Deep fear appeared on Yuri's aged face, as if she was thinking of some unspeakable horror. "You won't understand why the gap is so large. Then, you'll discover that within that originally enormous gap, your mental strength is extremely difficult to improve."

"Even meditation techniques become very unreliable."

"In year after year of stagnant progress, under the repeated disappointed looks from my wizard mentor Harlen Vera, and finally under the ruthless pressure of his complete abandonment of me, I chose to conduct dangerous research. At that time, I was performing a kind of aging curse on my own soul, and trying to improve my mental strength through curse-breaking methods."

"Making my soul repeatedly experience being cursed and then uncursed."

Locke frowned. Even without seeing Yuri's specific operations, just hearing this description made him feel it was extremely dangerous.

This was walking a tightrope.

If control was lost even slightly, the soul would be cursed to death by oneself.

Yuri Burns lowered her head and sighed. "But my talent was ultimately insufficient. My experiment went out of control. The aging curse backfired on my soul. I could barely save my life, but I lost all my prospects." Google seaʀᴄh Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

"I also changed from a woman who was hotly pursued by many male wizards into an ugly old hag."

"And not only that, I also fell under continuous investigation by the White Wizard Association's ethical review mechanism, because my experiment violated some ethical review standards."

"This made it very difficult for me to find normal work. Only Lady Irina took me in."

Yuri Burns laughed helplessly, "Locke, it's funny to say, before the incident, I was still complaining that the rules and regulations set by the White Wizard Association limited my development."

"But after the incident, I realized that the White Wizard Association's requirement for us to undergo ethical review was also to protect ourselves."

"People who become obsessed with their own power easily lose themselves, and ultimately let that power backfire on them."

Locke hadn't expected the advancement path for first-class wizard apprentices to be so difficult. He comforted her with a few words. "Yuri, anyone who can become a first-class wizard apprentice can't have too poor talent."

"I believe you'll find a way to get yourself out of this awkward situation. As long as a person is alive, there will always be ways to make a comeback."

"There are also potions that can remove the curse on you."

Yuri laughed hoarsely. "Locke, you're really kind-hearted."

"Thank you, but we're different. You wouldn't understand. You don't understand the pain of people like us. Geniuses like you will never understand these things."

Yuri said in a low voice, "I'm a potion studies apprentice myself. I know what my situation is. I cast curses on my own soul for too long. For at least five years, I drank a bottle of aging potion every day, then drank even more curse-breaking potions. The aging curse is deeply entangled with my soul..."

"Ordinary First Circle potion masters, seeing my condition, would avoid me like the plague."

"Afraid I'd ruin their reputation."

A flash of resentment appeared in Yuri's eyes, hatred toward her wizard mentor. "If my wizard mentor Harlen Vera had stopped me at that time, everything would have been different, but he didn't."

"He was always like that."

"In his eyes, there were only those bright and shining students."

Yuri quickly suppressed her anger and apologetically nodded to Locke. "Sorry, Locke, I shouldn't have lost composure in front of you."

"I talked too much today."

"I'm sorry." Yuri pleaded, "In the end, it's my own failure. Please don't repeat the nonsense I just said... okay..."

Locke nodded and waved his hand. "I didn't hear anything."

"Well then, Manager Yuri, good luck to you. It's been a pleasure working together."

Locke stood up and walked toward the shop exit.

He still had a pile of things to handle. Applying to expand the plantation would also need to go through the White Wizard Association's ethical review mechanism, requiring another round of effort.

Moreover, this time, if he still wanted to expand the plantation, he would need to make it medium-scale.

Witch Sophia probably couldn't help him quickly pass the review either. The White Wizard Association's plantation reviews for second-class wizard apprentices weren't too strict, but reviews for first-class wizard apprentices' plantations would inevitably be extremely careful.

The Abyssal Plant Catastrophe caused by the Green Ring Society in the southeastern quadrant had only been fifty years ago.

Manager Yuri stood up to see him off.

After leaving Lijin Secret Language, Locke went to the slave depot in Chimera Trading Market again and found the dark elf attendant Benny from last time, planning to purchase another batch of minotaur slaves.

He needed to add at least five minotaurs.

On the street where the slave depot was located, dark elf Benny carefully said to Locke, "Respected Lord Locke, currently the value of minotaur noble slaves has recovered to 10 magic stones each."

"But our shop's quality remains the same. Each minotaur noble slave has undergone strict enchantment spell re-education and will absolutely not betray their master, nor has their intelligence been affected."

Locke frowned with dissatisfaction. "Wasn't it 5 magic stones each before?"

Under the magical pressure that Locke unconsciously emanated, dark elf Benny felt somewhat afraid, with some sweat beads appearing on his forehead. "Respected customer, it's : nine months ago, large quantities of high-quality beastman slaves entered the market, so the prices were driven down, but currently prices have recovered to normal."

"Although the slaves in our shop are expensive, the quality is absolutely guaranteed."

Locke nodded slightly. This made sense. After all, his plantation couldn't use slaves with unclear minds. Most of the work in his plantation required certain intelligence and comprehension abilities.

Locke said, "Alright, here are fifty magic stones. I want five minotaur noble slaves."

Dark elf Benny breathed a sigh of relief. "Respected customer, you purchased two slaves with ancient creature bloodlines last time. Are you interested in research in this area?"

"Recently the shop has acquired a mermaid slave with ancient creature bloodline."

Locke said, "Not needed for now."

He hadn't finished researching those two cat girls from last time yet. There was no need to buy any mermaid. Having money didn't mean spending it this way.

Money should be spent where it mattered most.

He would have plenty of places to spend magic stones in the future.