The threshold.
Locke opened Green-Grass Cloud Marsh and found his two articles in the monthly issue. He also skimmed a few articles by other First-Ring Wizards to see whether they contained anything he needed.
Under Green-Grass Cloud Marsh's rules, a wizard whose submission was accepted received a copy of that month's issue as a perk.
As expected, most of the wizards published here come from Cloud Marsh Wetland's seven top wizard organizations. Some of the others are researchers at institutes run by its ten leading Shop Alliances.
Less than a quarter of the articles come from wizards belonging to Cloud Marsh Wetland's hundred-odd midsize wizard organizations. As for wizards from small organizations... there isn't a single article by one in this issue.
In Cloud Marsh Wetland, joining a small local wizard organization basically puts Q1 out of reach. Even Q2 might be beyond you.
Locke sighed.
That was why he had come to the Truth Institute. It offered a higher starting point and gave a young First-Ring Wizard without connections like him an excellent platform.
As Locke leafed through the magazine, one article caught his attention. Written by Breeder Will Corinth of an Advanced Truth Institute under the Rose Council, it explained how the Type-3 Daffodil Inhibitor turned multi-headed roses into two-headed roses.
Locke quickly finished it. As both a Breeder and a Potion Master, he immediately realized that he could use the Type-3 Daffodil Inhibitor as a core ingredient and draw on the principles of Potions—core, secondary, auxiliary, and peripheral ingredients—to formulate a potion that could turn his Nine-Headed Snake Magic Plant into a Three-Headed Snake.
It would take experimentation, but with the Potions skills he had honed on the Feathered Serpent Ancient Pavilion's Heavenly Ladder, he could certainly try.
By combining Potions and Breeding Science, he could make