After ten years of cultivation, Richard had not only honed his combat skills. During this decade, he had also thoroughly observed the Heart of the Mountain within Evermountain Temple.
Thus, the complete rune of the Heart of the Mountain was born.
This rune was the most complex one Richard had ever seen, its intricate structure resembling the meridians of a living organism.
"Anna, you were right. This is indeed the complete rune of the Heart of the Mountain," Richard said with a smile. "I wonder if you still remember what I asked you to do back then."
On the eve of the expedition to the Crimson Sun World, Richard had entrusted Anna with the incomplete rune of the Heart of the Mountain, asking her to research an Elemental Golem capable of automatic repair.
Now, centuries later, he wasn't sure if Anna still remembered this task.
"Of course, I remember!" Anna replied, somewhat annoyed. "Do I look like the kind of Wizard who would forget a promise?"
Richard nodded slightly and then asked, "Since you still remember, how is your progress?"
"Progress…" Anna hesitated, struggling for a while before she finally whispered, "There is no progress. I tried for a long time, but I couldn't find a suitable research direction."
"Hmm?" Richard frowned. "What went wrong?"
Anna sighed and led Richard to the study on the third floor.
The study housed a massive bookshelf filled with Magic Books Anna had collected, along with her research notes.
After rummaging through them for a while, she handed Richard a thick black leather notebook.
"Take a look. These are my experimental records from back then. Your idea seemed feasible in theory, but in practice, it posed significant problems."
Richard took the notebook, found a chair, and began to read it carefully.
Anna's records were meticulous, detailing not only her experimental process but also her thought process at the time and the origins of her ideas.
This made it easy for Richard to understand Anna's reasoning as he read.
Soon, Richard finished reading the entire notebook.
After finishing, he sighed softly, "I didn't expect the Earth Elemental Core to have so many intricacies. It seems I was too naive."
His original idea had been to divide the Golem into multiple parts and then use the properties of the Heart of the Mountain rune to give these parts the ability to self-repair.
However, in practice, this approach was completely unworkable.
While the Golem's material requirements weren't particularly high, it couldn't be made from ordinary rocks or soil.
To turn the Golem parts into Earth Elemental components, they would need to undergo complex enchantments, which would make the Golem's energy consumption extremely high.
Moreover, even after enchantment, the strength of these Earth Elemental parts would still fall short of that of proper metal or specialized material components.
In summary, the idea was flawed.
Richard rubbed his temples. This was the first time in years that one of his ingenious ideas had failed.
Indeed, without a solid foundation of knowledge, such whimsical ideas were like drawing from a black box—success depended entirely on luck.
Richard handed the notebook back to Anna, "Since this approach is a dead end, there's no need for you to waste any more time on it."
Regarding the rune matter, Sister Anna, you don't need to worry about it. Investments come with risks, and I'm prepared for potential failure.
As for this Heart of the Mountain rune, if you want to study it, I can lend it to you temporarily. However, you must not share this rune with others; it can only be passed down to your own students."
Upon hearing this, Anna waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, no. Although this rune is excellent, it doesn't align with my research. Wizards from the Evocation School might be interested in this; you could let Ellie take a look."
"Is that so?" Richard looked at Anna, somewhat uncertain, and asked, "Opportunities like this don't come often, Sister Anna. You should think carefully."
"I'm absolutely sure," Anna replied with certainty. "I know you mean well, junior brother, but this rune truly doesn't fit with my research.
Studying it would only distract me."
Seeing her resolve, Richard stopped trying to persuade her. He stood up and bid farewell to Anna: "In that case, I'll take my leave now, junior sister."
...
After leaving the Tower of Truth, Richard made a detour to the City of Bliss, where he purchased a large batch of alchemy materials from the Nine Stars Commerce.
There was no other choice; the far northern region had virtually no airship teams, and the materials stored by the Wizard Chamber of Commerce were mostly related to physical evolution.
Richard needed materials for his research on alchemy machines, and they probably couldn't provide what he needed.
So Richard decided to buy them along the way.
Returning to the Wizard Tower with the materials, Richard immediately immersed himself in the laboratory, starting to craft the first Black Crystal Power Furnace.
A month later.
On the experimental platform, a metal sphere the size of a fist floated in the air.
The sphere was densely inscribed with runes, interconnected like a cage, trapping something inside.
This was the Black Crystal Power Furnace. With just a knuckle-sized piece of Yuris Black Crystal, this furnace could provide energy equivalent to over ten Magic Essences.
This number might seem insignificant, but when converted, it equals ten thousand Magic Stones. Even a first-circle Wizard, with their mental power at its peak, can only store up to thirty-four Magic Stones in their Mana Recirculation.
The energy provided by a single Black Crystal Power Furnace is comparable to the Mana Recirculation storage of nearly three hundred first-circle Wizards.
Moreover, a Wizard's Mana Recirculation is a highly efficient biological energy storage method. Ordinary native creatures have far lower energy storage capacities in their bodies.
Unfortunately, while crafting the Power Furnace, Richard roughly estimated the cost if he were to use this furnace as the power source for his Small Sky Citadel.
The result made him immediately dismiss the idea.
It was simply too expensive.
The power furnace for this Small Sky Citadel would have to rely on the Starr Wraith Power Furnace from the Ghost World.
Speaking of which, his Nightmare Power should have accumulated enough. It won't be long before he can uncover the secrets of that power furnace.
Putting the Black Crystal Power Furnace in his pocket, Richard then opened a Mystic Realm Rift and entered the Secret Realm.
Inside the Secret Realm, it was a scene of birds singing and flowers blooming, except for a corner of rocky wasteland that continuously emitted the roar of machinery.
This rocky wasteland was not naturally formed. After Richard chose it as the site for his alchemy workshop, the Fire Lizards hardened the ground.
Nearly a quarter of a square kilometer of land was turned into solid stone by the Fire Lizards.
Inside the alchemy workshop, groups of Fire Lizard craftsmen gathered together, discussing around the design blueprints.
Not a single error, not a single omission, not a single detail was missed in the content found on 69shu!
Although they had experience in designing the Mechanist Type I Personal Armor, they were still somewhat overwhelmed by Richard's unreasonable demand to "maximize the armor's performance while minimizing cost and production difficulty."
This demand was simply too excessive. These three factors could only be balanced through trade-offs; it was impossible to achieve all simultaneously.
But Richard was their boss, their financier, and the savior of their race. No matter how unreasonable the demand, they had to find a way to fulfill it.
"How is the research coming along?"
Hearing the voice from behind, the Fire Lizard craftsmen stood up and turned to bow slightly to Richard.
As one of the leaders among the Fire Lizard craftsmen, Kallion stepped forward first. "Sir, you've come at the perfect time. What do you think of this design?"
With that, Kallion approached Richard and handed him a stack of draft papers.
"This is the result of our numerous discussions. We've made some trade-offs in the armor's performance, and on that basis, we've managed to minimize the cost and production difficulty."
Richard flipped through the draft papers. Indeed, the Fire Lizard craftsmen had managed to reduce the cost and production difficulty of the Personal Armor to a very low level.
This set of Personal Armor still used an exoskeleton. Its external armor could defend against elemental attacks of up to 300 energy levels and physical attacks of up to 400 energy levels. In terms of auxiliary functions, this armor could make the wearer more agile, faster, and stronger. Its material cost had also been compressed to ten Magic Essence per set.
Apart from its high energy consumption, this armor was almost a perfect mass-produced item.
"Good, this is it," Richard decided. "But this is just the main structure. I still need some weapons.
I'm not very clear about your weapon requirements, so you'll have to design them."
Seeing Richard's approval, Kallion felt a slight relief. He bowed respectfully to Richard and said, "Sir, we've already completed the weapon designs."
With that, Sulina, who was standing nearby, walked over to Richard with a stack of draft papers.
Richard took the papers and looked through them. They depicted various weapons, including but not limited to curved swords, spears, bows, javelins, and other cold weapons.
These cold weapons needed to be crafted using Dragon Alchemy, and their costs had also been minimized.
"Good," Richard nodded. "You've worked hard these past days."
With that, Richard took out the black crystal Power Furnace.
"This is the Power Furnace I made. Adapt it and produce a prototype armor first. If there are no issues, the armor design will be finalized."
"Yes, sir."
After handing over the materials to the Fire Lizard craftsmen, Richard turned and left the Secret Realm.
Half a month later, the first set of armor was successfully completed.
This suit of armor, in its entirety, resembles a scaled-down version of the Mechanist Type I Personal Armor. The external armor plates are still crafted using Dragon Alchemy, but the internal structure incorporates many elements of Wizard Alchemy.
There's no other way—when it comes to the application of materials, Wizard Alchemy far surpasses Dragon Alchemy.
The performance of the experimental armor was tested by a Fire Lizard worker, a Level 1 Fire Lizard whose body appeared exceptionally robust.
Soon, the testing began.
The first round of tests for the armor was the movement test. The Fire Lizard worker, as required, successfully completed various actions such as running, jumping, and rolling.
Except for some restricted movements, most of his actions were executed flawlessly. Moreover, with the assistance of the armor, his movements became more effortless.
In addition to the movement test, the armor underwent resistance testing, attack testing, energy consumption testing, and destructive testing.
The final results left Richard quite satisfied.
These Fire Lizards, once trained and equipped with the armor, stood a high chance of defeating even an average first-circle Wizard.
After the testing concluded, the Fire Lizard craftsmen removed the armor from the test subject. With Richard's approval, the Fire Lizard was granted a three-month vacation.
"Excellent, this armor is very well designed," Richard said to the Fire Lizard craftsmen. "Have you given it a name yet?"
"Yes, sir," one of the Fire Lizard craftsmen replied with a smile. "We call it 'The Craftsman.'"
(End of Chapter)