After leaving the Secret Realm, Richard immediately headed to the central laboratory in the experimental zone.
During his cultivation in the Mountainous Secret Realm, he had entrusted the World Mushroom with the task of cultivating algae that could grow in magma. The algae had already been successfully cultivated by then.
However, he had been unable to leave the Secret Realm at the time, so the task had to be put on hold.
Now that his cultivation was complete, he naturally wanted to check if the task had been completed by someone else.
The central laboratory appeared as a massive pillar from the outside, connecting the second and third floors of the academy.
Inside, it was divided into four levels, each dedicated to different research.
The Wizards working here were either followers or students of Grand Wizard Galon.
Many theories in the path of evolution were born within this laboratory.
Richard entered the first level of the central laboratory, as this was where the reception counter was located, specifically for handing over task items.
"Magma algae? Let me check."
The Wizard behind the counter took out a Crystal Ball, searched through it for a moment, and soon looked up.
"This task hasn't been completed yet. Congratulations, you are the first Wizard to complete it."
Richard pulled out an enchanted quartz tube from his pocket. Under the enchantment, the magma inside the tube had not solidified.
On top of the magma, there was a faint layer of red floating matter.
The Wizard at the counter took the quartz tube and then sent a message through the Crystal Ball.
Shortly after, a Wizard in a white robe arrived at the counter.
This Wizard looked extremely frail, as if a gust of wind could knock him over. The dark circles under his eyes indicated that he hadn't slept or meditated in a long time.
"Where is it?"
The white-robed Wizard asked bluntly, yawning as he approached the counter.
The Wizard at the counter seemed accustomed to the white-robed Wizard's attitude. He handed the tube over and turned to Richard, saying,
"Please wait a moment, Master Andeli needs to inspect it."
The white-robed Wizard opened the tube, used his Magic Power to extract the magma from inside, and formed it into a floating magma sphere.
Then, to Richard's surprise, the Wizard dipped his finger into the magma and tasted it.
"Hmm, not bad. The magma is fine."
The white-robed Wizard nodded, then lightly tapped the magma algae on the surface of the magma sphere.
Richard narrowed his eyes, noticing that the algae on the surface of the magma sphere began to grow rapidly after the Wizard's touch.
He speculated in his heart, "The rule of life?"
"That's it." The white-robed Wizard returned the magma to the tube. "This is well done. It's as if it was naturally bred."
He turned to Richard, his face filled with a thirst for knowledge.
"Master, if I may ask, how did you manage to create this?
I have a lot of knowledge I can exchange with you."
Richard shook his head. "It's a secret formula. I'm not planning to exchange it for now."
"That's a shame."
The white-robed Wizard sighed in disappointment, then left the counter with the tube of magma algae.
"Who is that master?" Richard casually asked. "He seems quite extraordinary."
The Wizard behind the counter smiled. "Master Andeli is a student of the Dean, so he tends to be... direct in his actions within the academy."
Richard stroked his chin and chuckled. "Indeed, quite direct."
With the task handed over, the contribution points were naturally credited.
Including the contribution points from the last arm cultivation task, Richard now had a total of 120 contribution points.
This amount was enough to purchase a high-quality piece of knowledge from the contribution store.
...
Arriving at the contribution store, Richard began searching through the Crystal Ball for knowledge that suited him.
Holding onto contribution points wouldn't make them multiply; converting them into practical knowledge was the right path.
The knowledge in the contribution store was vast, but it could be roughly divided into three categories.
The first category was combat spells. The Unity of Heaven and Man that Richard had witnessed on Jimmy fell into this category.
The second category was battle body spells, such as the Magic Rune Battle Body and the Myriad Transformation Battle Body. These spells were enhancement types and could produce unexpected effects when paired with suitable combat spells.
The third category was auxiliary spells, which often had special effects. The Garon Physique Sealing Art was a representative of this type.
Richard carefully selected from these spells and eventually chose the Garon Physique Sealing Art and the principles of the Myriad Transformation Battle Body.
The former was a trump card for Richard, while the latter was chosen based on the advice of the One-Armed Wizard and the fact that his contribution points were just enough.
The Myriad Transformation Battle Body was unique because it was divided into two parts: the principles, which cost 20 contribution points, and the battle body diagrams, each costing 100 contribution points.
Richard speculated that the Myriad Transformation Battle Body, as its name suggested, had multiple transformations. Wizards could, through their own research, construct a battle body that suited them.
After handing over the contribution points to the clerk, Richard received the Crystal Ball containing the two pieces of knowledge.
He pocketed the Crystal Ball and walked out of the store.
He glanced at the task board, confirmed there were no suitable tasks for him, and then returned to his Wizard Tower.
...
Ten years of cultivation wasn't long for a Wizard, but for mortals, it was a considerable amount of time.
Over the years, the area around the northernmost city had developed a ring of smaller cities, with new ones still being established.
These cities were connected by railways, and the massive alchemical steam trains seemed to have come straight out of a steampunk world—menacing yet possessing a unique beauty.
These steel serpents raced along the iron tracks, occasionally emitting piercing whistles.
They were the lifeblood of the nation! In the ten years Richard had been away, some cities had even built Airship Fields, and airship trade was gradually emerging.
A prosperous mortal nation was on the rise.
High in the sky, Richard looked down at the land below. Gazing at the bustling cities, he murmured, "This is good. In a few decades, the population will likely exceed ten million."
In this desolate northern region, ten million people was an astronomical number.
In the past, the entire territory of Grand Wizard Galon, including all the Snowfield People, had only amounted to twenty million.
At this moment, Richard deeply realized the war potential of the Wizard World.
If the Council of Truth wished, the Wizard World could produce hundreds of billions of ordinary humans in just a few decades.
From these humans, children of the right age could be selected and trained. Even if the selection process followed the Black Wizard's mechanism, the number of Wizards produced would be staggering.
Faced with such a massive number of Wizards, even the World Master would have to retreat.
Whoosh!
A sound interrupted Richard's thoughts.
He turned around and saw an Airship less than a hundred meters behind him, still approaching.
The Airship's model was somewhat outdated, and it seemed the controls weren't very flexible, making it difficult to avoid Richard at such a close distance.
Through the observation window, Richard smiled at the somewhat panicked pilot, then transformed into a streak of light and flew into the distance.
...
The two pieces of knowledge Richard had exchanged for were not difficult to learn.
Or rather, Grand Wizard Galon had already anticipated their questions and provided answers in the inheritance Crystal Ball.
In any case, Richard didn't find the learning process strenuous. It only took him a month to master the Garon Physique Sealing Art.
The Garon Physique Sealing Art was essentially a unique form of curse. This curse would continuously absorb the Wizard's life force and Magic Power during daily life, then return it all at once in critical moments.
However, the best part of this spell compared to other curse spells was that it didn't require spiritual energy.
Wizards without spiritual energy only needed a small ritual to apply it to themselves.
Moreover, the most terrifying aspect was that the Garon Physique Sealing Art could be applied multiple times to the same target.
Each layer of the Garon Physique Sealing Art would weaken the Wizard's power by about five percent, but the retained power was also limited.
Some Wizards who pursued perfection would apply five or even ten layers of the Garon Physique Sealing Art, usually fighting with only two-thirds or half of their strength.
They called this behavior "training," believing it helped them hone their skills and allowed them to break through their limits in critical moments.
However, Richard felt that his strength hadn't reached that level yet.
So after learning the spell, he only applied two layers to himself.
He wasn't solely focused on the physique route; over the years, he had also been collaborating with Ellie to optimize the spells he had.
Two layers of the seal didn't significantly impact his combat power.
After studying the Garon Physique Sealing Art, Richard turned his attention to the Myriad Transformation Battle Body.
The Myriad Transformation Battle Body could be simply summarized as an upgraded version of the Bloodline Seed.
However, unlike the Bloodline Seed, the Myriad Transformation Battle Body was more complex and powerful.
An ordinary Bloodline Seed was considered decent if it could fuse three or four bloodlines, and excellent if it could fuse five or six. Bloodline formulas capable of fusing over ten bloodlines were extremely rare in the entire Wizard World.
But with the Myriad Transformation Battle Body, ten bloodlines were just the beginning.
A hundred bloodlines, a thousand bloodlines—it was all possible.
If researched to the extreme, it could encompass all things in the world, allowing the battle body to transform at will.
But this was like the "Qiankun Great Shift." Even Grand Wizard Galon, its creator, had only managed to fuse a little over a thousand bloodlines.
The level of freely transforming the battle body described in the principles of the Myriad Transformation Battle Body was merely his ideal.
The principles of the Myriad Transformation Battle Body were extremely complex, involving many profound pieces of knowledge.
It took Richard a full two years to fully understand the principles of this spell.
But understanding the principles was just the beginning. To truly use this spell, a Wizard needed to learn a lot of additional knowledge.
The Wizard had to have a thorough understanding of the bloodlines they intended to fuse.
The muscle structure, organ functions, and neural structure of the creature providing the bloodline—the Wizard had to know them all inside out.
Only then could the Wizard fuse the bloodline into the Myriad Transformation Battle Body and create a battle body unique to themselves.
Undoubtedly, this would be a long process.
But Richard quickly found a shortcut.
"Wizards seem to have a deep understanding of dragons," Richard muttered to himself, stroking his chin. "And I remember, this knowledge is quite cheap."
(End of Chapter)