Chapter 200: News of War

"Junior brother, dragonification is all well and good, but it comes with its own drawbacks."

Seeing the signs of dragonification in Richard's body, Chacks frowned and spoke with concern.

The dragonblood lineage not only brought benefits but also significant downsides. After being dragonified by dragonblood, creatures inevitably acquired the dragon's habits and temperament.

Dragons were naturally arrogant, disdainful, and saw all dragonblooded species as slaves and ordinary creatures as insignificant. Those who underwent dragonification would also inevitably adopt this arrogant and boastful nature, and the influence was almost impossible to remove.

For wizards, rationality and humility were the highest virtues, with every master maintaining a heart like that of an apprentice. The negative personality traits introduced by dragonification would inevitably hinder a wizard's future development.

Arrogance, in particular, could lead a wizard to death on the battlefield, and in normal circumstances, it would ruin their interpersonal relationships.

Besides personality, dragonified creatures would also inevitably face mental suppression or even mental control when encountering dragons. This flaw was especially deadly given that dragons were widely present in surrounding worlds.

For these reasons, few wizards, aside from those specializing in the study of dragonblood, would choose to undergo dragonification.

However, Richard's situation was different. 

With the simplified version of the Rune of the Thousand-Faced God King suppressing the corrosiveness of the dragonblood, the transplantation of dragonified organs became feasible.

Over the years, Richard had undergone three surgeries through dragonification on his clone: the transplantation of the dragonbone gland to reinforce his skeletal structure, the dragonstrength gland to enhance his muscular power, and the dragoneye transplantation to grant him dynamic vision and thermal imaging sight.

These dragonified organs had significantly improved Richard's abilities. The first transplantation, the dragonbone gland, had greatly increased the hardness and toughness of his bones.

Bones were the foundation for exerting strength.

With the reinforcement from the dragonbone gland, the second transplantation, the dragonstrength gland, now had room to take effect.

The dragonstrength gland secreted a biological hormone during combat that increased muscle recruitment and explosiveness. This explosive power was extremely intense, and without the reinforcement of the dragonbone gland, Richard's bones could have fractured under the immense force.

The enhancement from the dragoneyes needed no explanation. In the perilous environments of planar battles, having an additional way to scout the surroundings made all the difference.

Richard smiled at Chacks. "Senior brother, I know my limits. Do I look like I've been affected?"

Seeing Richard's confidence, Chacks decided not to press further. Every wizard had their own path, and his role was simply to offer advice. If anyone needed to intervene more, it would be Jorrod.

"Alright, as long as you're sure," Chacks replied.

After packing up, Richard met Yelina at the door of the lab.

"Richard senior, you're leaving already? Is Chacks taking over, or Anna?"

Yelina glanced into the lab and immediately spotted Chacks, who had his characteristic plump body with an extra pair of arms.

"So it's Senior Brother Chacks," she said.

Chacks approached and greeted his little sister, Yelina.

Both were alchemical wizards who focused on blood and flesh, so they were well-matched in their research.

"Yelina, did you need something?" Richard asked, noticing the thick stack of papers in her hands.

"Oh, right, these are the things you asked me to organize," Yelina replied, handing over the papers.

These papers contained a lot of detailed data on dragonified organs, which would be very helpful for Richard's future optimization of the Dragonification Combat Body.

While the information seemed a bit tedious to Richard, he had spent some Magic Essence to ask Yelina to organize it for him.

For Yelina, this was vital experimental data, and Richard's request was no trouble at all.

Taking the data, Richard said his goodbyes to Yelina and Chacks before leaving the Black Tower Wizard Academy and returning to the Truth Tower.

Upon his return, Richard began assembling the gravity training room he had completed over the past years in the basement of the Wizard Tower. After nearly three days of repeated adjustments, the gravity training room finally met Richard's standards.

The training room, from the outside, looked like a half-sphere. The metal walls were inscribed with runes for reinforcement, and with the added self-charging circuit, the runes remained activated. In the darkness, the faint blue glow of the runes could be seen.

Inside the training room, the walls were smooth and even, with a raised platform in the center holding a crystal ball to control the room's gravity and turn it on or off.

After Richard's careful tuning, the gravity of the room could be adjusted from two times the normal gravity to as high as fifteen times.

Once the adjustments were complete, Richard changed into form-fitting clothes and entered the training room.

As he activated the room with his mental energy, Richard immediately felt a heavy sensation, as though the air itself had become thick and sticky.

Under these conditions, Richard sat down cross-legged, using his flight magic to float in the air.

Feeling the cells of his body absorbing magic power from the surrounding space, Richard nodded in satisfaction. This was the effect he had been aiming for.

Next, Richard tested the gravity changes in the room, and everything worked exactly as he had imagined.

Leaving the training room, Richard looked at the surrounding soil and casually pointed.

The next moment, a large chunk of solid soil turned into soft mud, flowing down from the wall.

Richard wasn't working in the original basement of the Wizard Tower. He had built a new underground space beneath the basement where he had assembled the magical support vehicles. Now, he planned to expand this new underground area.

As Richard continuously cast spells, large spaces were cleared, and the soft mud piled up at his feet.

These piles of mud could be transported out, but after returning from the Mountain Secret Realm, Richard had come up with an easier solution.

With a surge of his mental energy, the gravity around him changed instantly, tripling the original gravity.

Under this altered gravity, the previously unshaped soft mud quickly flattened out.

The gravity control from the Mountain Secret Realm wasn't very useful in combat, but it had many applications in construction.

After the gravity compressed the mud, Richard brought in an alchemical hammer and firmly compacted the ground.

This new underground space was intended for Richard to practice the Mountain Way.

The techniques Richard learned from the Mountain Dwarves were practical methods developed through years of practice. For Richard, who was new to physical combat, these techniques were extremely useful.

After compacting the ground, Richard used a feather quill to enchant the new basement, ensuring it wouldn't collapse.

After tidying up, Richard shaped an iron stake into a humanoid form and placed it into a prepared hole.

Looking at the underground space he had spent three days preparing, Richard felt quite pleased with himself.

He clapped his hands. "It's done. Now it's time to train."

---

Back at the Truth Tower, Richard hadn't forgotten to continue cultivating the dragonified organs. Although dragonified bodies could still be made into active flesh, there were inevitable losses. This meant that Richard's stock of active flesh had been depleted, and he now had to buy materials to create more himself.

However, with the Flesh Tendrils producing high-quality active flesh, Richard's high-quality stock was somewhat guaranteed, so his expenses weren't too high.

Cultivating dragonified organs, training the Adaptation Body, gravity training, practicing the Mountain Way, assembling magical support vehicles, and daily research kept Richard's time completely filled.

Twenty years later.

"This is the last batch of magical support vehicles. Master, please check the quality. If there are no issues, please sign for them."

Richard, dressed in a black wizard robe, stood in front of the magical support vehicles, smiling at Vladimir, who had come to inspect the products.

In the first fifty years of the deal, Richard produced two magical support vehicles per year, completing a third of the transaction.

Before Jorrod's ascension, he had already arranged the remaining materials for the magical support vehicles, so even after his promotion, Richard continued to receive the materials without interruption.

Magical support vehicles themselves were not difficult to make. After Richard became proficient, he could make one in a week.

However, the Frost Legion wasn't in a rush. After Jorrod fell into his slumber, Richard produced the vehicles at a rate of one every three months. Once he had accumulated fifty, he would deliver them to the White Wizard. Now, fifty years had passed since Jorrod's slumber, and Richard had delivered another two hundred vehicles.

By now, Richard had earned a total of 80,000 Magic Essence. This amount of profit would take even a third-ring wizard to conquer a medium-sized world or wage seven or eight wars on small worlds.

Vladimir waved his hand, and several white wizards followed him to begin inspecting the products.

Meanwhile, Richard and Vladimir started chatting casually.

"Jorrod was lucky," Vladimir sighed. "He actually found an opportunity to advance."

Vladimir's situation was similar to Jorrod's. He didn't have a promotion ceremony for the third ring in his inheritance, and though he had designed one himself, he couldn't find enough materials.

"Don't lose heart, Master," Richard comforted. "You still have some time. Maybe the next planar war will bring you the materials you need."

Vladimir waved his hand. "I've already given up on it. Even if I do reach the third ring, it'll only extend my life by seven or eight hundred years. I'm only thinking about advancing to test whether my ritual works or not."

"If it works, at least my student will have another path."

With that, Vladimir sighed.

"My student is not as sharp as you, a real fool. Without a ritual, he'll probably be stuck at the second ring for life."

Soon, the inspection was complete. Vladimir opened a rift to a secret realm and sent the magical support vehicles inside.

Just as they were about to part, Vladimir suddenly slapped his forehead.

"I almost forgot! The Dean plans to join a planar expedition soon. The timing isn't certain, but it should happen within this century."

"You're probably on the contract to join the expedition, so you better be prepared."

"War is coming."