Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, thirty years have passed.
On the experiment table, a golden flame quietly burns within the Magic Array.
"The energy configuration of this flame is truly exquisite. Applying this configuration to spells could enhance their power by at least one or two hundred levels."
Ellie gazes at the successfully simulated Golden Flame, her pretty face beaming with joy.
The two have made significant progress in their research on Fire Elemental Oddities. In these thirty short years, all the Oddities Richard brought back have been thoroughly studied.
The secrets they contain have greatly advanced Richard and Ellie's knowledge of shaping magic.
With this newfound knowledge, Richard's Fireball spell has successfully reached a power level of seven hundred. Including the enhancement from his staff, his Fireball spell now stands at eight hundred sixty levels.
In addition, Richard has modified several Evocation Spells over the years. While these spells are not particularly powerful, they mainly utilize the research findings from the Oddities and are designed to handle specific situations.
Richard approaches Ellie, looking at the flame on the experiment table, and casually says, "This is the last Oddity. Thank you for your hard work over the years."
During the research process, Ellie has been the main driving force.
Master Susanna, after all, is a student of the Great Wizard of the Black Tower, and her depth and breadth of knowledge are truly astonishing. Even though Ellie has become a Wizard, she can only recite many of Susanna's research findings verbatim.
To fully understand the intricacies, she must put in considerable effort to supplement her knowledge.
This has allowed Ellie's knowledge of shaping magic to far exceed that of an average Wizard.
Of course, if Richard had the same innate talent in synthesizing beasts as Jolod, and could inherit his legacy, his situation wouldn't be much different from Ellie's.
But unfortunately, like Anna, Richard did not follow Jolod's path, so he can only explore on his own.
Ellie shuts down the Magic Array, and the Golden Flame dissipates.
"Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, thirty years have passed," Ellie sighs. "The progress made in these thirty years feels greater than if I had researched alone for three hundred years."
Richard chuckles, "I've brought back these Oddities, and we've studied them all in thirty years. If that's not significant progress, then there's no reasoning with it."
Ellie makes a face and then puts away the notes from the experiment table.
"Now that the research is done, I should be leaving."
"What, are you running off now that the Oddities are studied?"
Ellie rolls her eyes at Richard, then leans into his embrace, her tone flirtatious, "Then I'll stay a little longer, but you better not run away."
Richard's expression stiffens, and he awkwardly replies, "Let's not. Spending too much time together isn't beneficial for our relationship. There's a saying in my hometown: 'A little separation is better than a new marriage.' Let's keep some personal space."
Ellie glares at Richard, playfully scolding, "Coward."
With that, Ellie opens the window and flies out.
Richard stands in place, muttering under his breath, a voice only he can hear:
"Me, a coward? If any other Wizard were put through what you put me through, they would have screamed and run away by now."
Over the years, Richard has finally learned what bloodline Ellie has fused with.
Ellie's bloodline is a peculiar creature that the Great Wizard of the Black Tower acquired during an Astral World expedition from an otherworldly being.
The Great Wizard refers to this creature as a Fire Dragon Demon.
This creature is a hybrid of a dragon and some otherworldly being, but surprisingly, the dragon's bloodline did not dominate; instead, it fused with the bloodline of that otherworldly being, resulting in a mutation.
The advantages of the Dragon Bloodline were retained, while its greatest drawback—its corrosiveness—completely vanished.
The Great Wizard handed this biological specimen over to Susanna.
After studying this creature, Susanna found its bloodline abilities to be quite impressive, so she fused it into her own body.
After the fusion, Susanna did not feel any dangerous side effects. Thus, it became part of her Wizard legacy, and after taking Ellie as her apprentice, she passed this bloodline to Ellie once Ellie became a Wizard.
During the Nest World incident, Ellie had just fused with the bloodline and had not fully integrated it, so the abilities it provided were not yet apparent.
However, during Richard's years of battling in the Crimson Sun World, Ellie finally fully integrated the bloodline. Her physique, strength, agility, and even her control over energy have greatly improved.
If Richard hadn't become a second-ring Wizard, he truly wouldn't have been able to keep up with her.
Moreover, what puzzles Richard the most is that Ellie seems to possess some kind of adaptive ability.
As time has progressed, Ellie has surprisingly been able to hold her own against him, and recently, there have even been signs of her suppressing him.
For this reason, Richard specifically asked Ellie for some Fire Dragon Demon bloodline samples, intending to study them when he has the time in the future.
If fusing a bloodline could grant him abilities similar to those of an adaptive body, then what would he need to study adaptive bodies for?
After Ellie leaves, Richard tidies up the laboratory. Over the years, the lab has been shared by the two, and some arrangements have inevitably changed.
Now it's time to restore it to its original state.
But just as Richard is cleaning up, a magical fluctuation catches his attention—
His communication crystal ball lights up.
"Who could be looking for me at this time? Could it be Iyad?"
He had previously asked Iyad to notify him when someone came to collect Damir's inheritance, but now, thirty years later, there has been no word from Iyad.
Richard goes to the next room and glances at the message on the crystal ball. However, the sender surprises him.
"Bob? Why is he messaging me?"
Although Richard had given Bob some sample parts, hoping to do business in alchemical components, Bob had not responded for a long time, so he had put that matter aside.
It's not that he didn't care; his orders for the Magic Support Vehicle were already full.
In these thirty years, Richard has successfully completed the structural optimization of the Magic Support Vehicle, replacing all non-enchanted components with products from Dragon Alchemy.
The current Magic Support Vehicle has evolved into Richard Type II.
This model of support vehicle surpasses the previous one in stability and performance, while the price remains unchanged.
Each support vehicle costs eight hundred fifty Magic Essence, fair and square… even with Richard's optimizations, the material costs for the Magic Support Vehicle have decreased by nearly one hundred Magic Essence.
Naturally, Richard's actions have caused some dissatisfaction from Jolod.
[With the performance improvement, your price should also increase. Otherwise, how can we justify the first batch of Magic Support Vehicle purchases?]
[If you don't raise the price, how do we charge for the upgrades of the first batch of Magic Support Vehicles?]
[We are a trading association; your mindset is wrong. The Great Wizard isn't short on this little money.]
Note: The above statements were made by Jolod after learning that Richard had optimized the material costs by nearly one hundred Magic Essence.
After opening for orders, the White Wizard Legion's requests came pouring in like snowflakes.
The effectiveness of the Magic Support Vehicle has spread within the White Wizard Legion, and the on-demand spellcasting is incredibly reassuring for Wizards.
Thus, they strongly recommend that the upper echelons of the legion make a purchase.
For the White Wizard Legion, which relies on the Great Wizard, spending hundreds of thousands of Magic Essence on weapons is merely a small expense.
If the weapon's effectiveness is good enough, the Great Wizard will not only not blame them but will also commend their diligence.
So they are also willing to purchase a batch of Magic Support Vehicles to test the waters.
As a result, under their enthusiasm, the orders for Richard Jolod's Magic Support Vehicle have even been pushed back to a thousand years later.
A flood of Magic Essence continuously flows towards Richard.
And to meet these orders, Jolod has brought Anna, Charkes, and several of his students into the trading association to work, while Richard's Fire Lizard Alchemy Workshop is operating at full capacity.
He currently has neither the energy nor the interest to engage in Bob's business.
However, Bob's message did not specify the situation; it merely mentioned that the Nine Star Trading Association is holding an auction soon and hopes Richard can attend and discuss some matters.
So Richard doesn't mind making the trip.
After researching for thirty years, it's nice to occasionally get some fresh air.
Moreover, an auction is a good place; Richard is now financially robust, and if he sees something he likes, he wouldn't mind bidding on it.
Who knows, he might even find a bargain.
Finding bargains is one of his great hobbies.
Additionally, although the Nine Star Trading Association, where Bob is located, is a new trading association, compared to Richard's, it is already quite powerful.
The ink that Tarhe accidentally created years ago, with Richard's investment, has been deciphered by Fire Lizard craftsmen seventeen years ago.
Although this deciphering is not entirely clear, it has stabilized the production of ink.
Currently, Richard Jolod's trading association has not expanded its stores, and Richard has a considerable stockpile of alchemical ink.
He also wants to take this opportunity to clear out some inventory.
Putting the crystal ball into his pocket, Richard returns to the laboratory to finish tidying up the unfinished parts.
There's still some time before the auction, so for now, tidying up the laboratory is the most important task.
...
The Nine Star Trading Association is not located in the Tower of Truth, so Richard has to leave the Tower of Truth and enter the real Wizard World.
Checking the map, Richard discovers that the headquarters of the Nine Star Trading Association is at the intersection of two bustling sky routes—a city called Paradise City.
"This is quite convenient; I don't even have to fly there myself."
Richard looks at the map and finds a high-speed airship heading to Paradise City at an airship dock outside the Tower of Truth.
To Richard's surprise, the pilot of the airship is actually a Wizard. Even the attendants on the airship are advanced Wizard apprentices.
"Is this your first time on a fast airship, Master?" The pilot notices Richard's astonished expression and smiles.
"Indeed," Richard nods. "I didn't expect the pilot of the airship to be a Wizard."
The pilot chuckles, "I can't compare to a powerful figure like you who can fight on the Plane Battlefield. I'm just a small fry without the guts or ability, trying to earn some Magic Stones by doing this kind of work."
Richard curiously asks, "How much do you earn for this trip?"
"About one Magic Essence for a round trip."
"How many round trips can you make in a year?"
"Five round trips a year, guaranteed."
Richard nods and hands the pilot a bag of Magic Stones.
"Good job, stable work. Here's one hundred Magic Stones; check if it's short."
The pilot catches the bag, not even scanning it with his mental energy, and casually tosses it into his Magic Pocket.
"Master, you look like a big shot; how could you possibly shortchange me on Magic Stones?"
Richard looks at his attire with some confusion:
"Do I look wealthy? Or do I look fierce?"
"Master, you usually stay in the Tower of Truth, surrounded by capable Wizards who dare to fight on the Plane Battlefield for their future.
So you might not realize how special you are.
But that aura of menace around you is quite conspicuous outside."
Richard frowns; having a special aura as a Black Wizard is not a good thing.
They usually infiltrate behind enemy lines and strive to keep a low profile without any noticeable presence.
He communicates with Ulysses on his shoulder through mental messages:
"Ulysses, do I have any special aura about me?"
"Gah, killing too many people does that. You can find a priest to baptize you back home. You'll probably need to find those soul Wizards here."
The pilot hands over the room number and key; even on a fast airship, it takes a month to reach Paradise City.
During this time, he will definitely have to stay on the airship.
Richard takes the key and glances at the room number.
"Room 225, interesting."
(End of Chapter)