《Technological Wizard》 Chapter 1 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios It was cold and dark in the dimly lit dungeon. Putrid smell and human odor lingered in the air, making the place extremely nauseating. The walls of the dungeon were plagued with algae and moss. Along every few meters of the wall was a burning sconce that sizzled and crackled. Due to poor ventilation, low oxygen levels and incomplete combustion, the sconces emitted black smoke and casted rows of silhouettes on the floor. The silhouettes were distorted and terrifying to look at. Drip. Drip. Water droplets condensed at the top of the dungeon and fell continuously, landing on the crown of a dungeon guard. Bit by bit, the icy, cold droplets moistened the guard¡¯s hair and cheek, eventually trickling down his neck. However, the standing guard dared not move the slightest bit. All his muscles were stiff, and he stood rooted to the ground like a dragoon¡¯s spear, trying his best to breathe normally. But he could not help casting furtive glances at the dungeon¡¯s entrance. At the entrance, clad in simple royal attire, a young man around 15 to 16 years of age stepped into the dungeon expressionlessly. Behind him was the chief guard of the dungeon, looking timid and scared as he accompanied the young man. His face was all smiles, but his eyes were filled with fear and unease. The chief guard could not help the fear. The young man was the king¡¯s youngest son. After the eldest prince, he was the next successor in line. If the prince were to be slightly displeased with the guard, he could execute him at any time. At the thought of this, the chief guard felt even more nervous, and his expression stiffened. Richard didn¡¯t care about the chief guard¡¯s expression. It had been 15 years since he had come to this world, which resembled the Middle Ages. With his exceptional mental capacities, he had already gotten used to his current role and status. He knew what to do to achieve his goals successfully and seek answers to that ultimate question he kept in his heart. Tap, tap, tap. Step by step, Richard walked into the dungeon. He looked at the chief guard and said, ¡°I told you to lead a team to capture wizards, or people who know about magic or supernatural powers for my research. You took on this mission twice, but you did not succeed and brought in some ugly farmers to make up the numbers. This is the third time. Are you sure you¡¯ve really captured the right people? My patience is running out.¡± ¡°Your Highness, this time¡­¡± The chief guard was already sweating profusely, and his Adam¡¯s apple quivered. He spoke with a stiff voice, ¡°This time, I promise that I¡¯ve captured them.¡± ¡°How¡¯s the situation with the soldiers¡¯ compensation then?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Oh?¡± The chief guard was stunned. ¡°Compensation? What compensation?¡± Richard frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve pocketed the compensation for the injured and dead soldiers? Well, if you¡¯ve really done that, I admire you a little for your bravery.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t!¡± The chief guard¡¯s eyes widened, and he came to his senses. He stammered, ¡°Your- Your Highness, there were no casualties.¡± ¡°Oh? No casualties? None of your soldiers got injured when capturing supernatural people?¡± ¡°Right, there were none,¡± said the chief guard seriously. ¡°Uh, alright,¡± Richard said. He could already guess some things. He sighed and said, ¡°Tell me who you have captured this time.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± The chief guard calmed himself down and replied seriously, ¡°We arrested a total of four people this time. A white-faced demon, a halfling, a vampire and a¡ª¡± ¡­ Tap, tap, tap. Some time later, Richard stopped before a prison cell situated deep in the dungeons, and he narrowed his eyes at the figure inside. The prisoner¡¯s face looked abnormally white and lacking of color. It was very odd and horrifying. He was sitting on the floor, seeming terrified as he glanced at Richard. The chief guard¡¯s voice spoke, as he was afraid that Richard could not tell, ¡°Your Highness, this is the white-faced demon that we¡¯ve captured. Look.¡± Richard merely took a glance, and then he continued walking. The chief guard was surprised. He did not know why Richard seemed disinterested. Nevertheless, he caught up with him timidly. Soon after, Richard stopped a second time. Beside him was another cell with a strange figure shrunk in the corner. His face was full of wrinkles, and he looked like he was at least 50 years old. However, he was less than a meter tall and looked like a child. There was a strange and mysterious sensation at the sight of him. The chief guard explained, ¡°Your Highness, this is the halfling¡ª¡± Before he could finish his words, Richard shook his head and moved forward again, though he soon paused in his tracks once more. In the third cell was a monster-like human. He had a pale appearance. His face, neck, hands and exposed skin were full of red spots. Some of his skin had already decomposed. His mouth was slightly open, and his teeth seemed strange, with an uncanny bloody color that sent chills down one¡¯s back. ¡°Your- Your Highness.¡± Obviously nervous, the chief guard pointed at the third prisoner and said, ¡°This is the vampire. You have to be very careful not to get hurt.¡± ¡°Ha,¡± Richard spoke coldly. ¡°Your Highness- You¡ª¡± Richard said, ¡°An albino, a dwarf and a man with porphyria. Are these the so-called white-faced demon, halfling and vampire that you¡¯ve captured?¡± ¡°This¡ª¡± ¡°Do you know anything about biology? Oh right, I forgot, there is no biology to speak of in the Middle Ages. But this is not a good reason! If you use your brain, you should know. If they truly were a white-faced demon, a halfling and a vampire, would you have been able to capture them that easily? You should have known when the soldiers captured them without incurring any injuries. Have you not learned your lesson from the past two failures?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ This¡ª¡± ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the vampire. Have you seen him turning into a bat like in the legends? Or can he fly?¡± The chief guard trembled as he mustered the courage to say, ¡°Your Highness, no, I haven¡¯t seen this evil vampire turn into a bat and fly, but his skin cannot be exposed to sunlight. It decomposes as soon as it does. He¡¯s like that now because he was under the sun on the journey here.¡± ¡°He was drinking blood when our men went to capture him. Also, he hates garlic very much. If he¡¯s not a vampire, what is he? He¡¯s undoubtedly a vampire!¡± ¡°And yet, he is only a man with porphyria,¡± Richard said expressionlessly. ¡°Oh?¡± The chief guard was in a daze. ¡°In other words, he¡¯s just a sick person. Everything about his behavior are symptoms of his illness. Though they are very similar to how a vampire would behave¡­ He is not a vampire.¡± ¡°W- Why?¡± The chief guard had a puzzled expression. ¡°Are you sure you want to listen to the logical explanation?¡± Richard asked. ¡°This¡ª¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll explain it to you,¡± said Richard. ¡°Porphyria is also called hematoporphyria. When producing heme, the substance that pigments blood red, your body cells fail to change certain chemicals¡ªporphyrins and porphyrin precursors¡ªin your body into heme. This is due to a deficiency or inactivity of a specific enzyme in the enzymatic activity. When these porphyrins build up in the body, they negatively affect the skin or nervous system. It can be congenital or acquired. However, given this era¡¯s medical standards, well, this illness is incurable. It is barely impossible to survive and, if you do, you will end up in this horrid state.¡± ¡°What?¡± The chief guard still looked very confused. ¡°Let¡¯s put it in another way.¡± Richard elaborated, ¡°The human blood is made up of many components, and one of them is called heme. Normally, the body uses iron and porphyrin, with a specific enzyme as a catalyst, to form heme. ¡°However, some people lack the enzyme, and this hinders the production of heme, leaving high levels of a substance called porphyrin in the body. And this porphyrin is very sensitive to light. It is harmless in the dark, but once it is exposed to sunlight, the ultraviolet rays will activate and transform it into a kind of ¡®meat-eating¡¯ toxin, causing large red spots, cold sores and even skin decomposition. ¡°The mouth suffers as well. Your gums fester, exposing the roots, and this is why the teeth seem extremely long. They gradually turn purplish-brown because of the accumulation of porphyrins. ¡°At the same time, since the body doesn¡¯t produce heme and, by extension, normal blood, people with porphyria suffer from serious anemia. He will need to rely on blood from external sources to live. An intravenous transfusion is a good solution, but given this world¡¯s current technology, that can¡¯t be done at all. People with this illness can only opt for another method¡ªdrinking blood. Heme is a very strong component. It can endure all sorts of gastric juices, enter the digestive system, and then be absorbed by the small intestines. ¡°The reason why they hate garlic is also very simple. This is because the allicin in garlic has a very strong antibacterial effect. Due to their body¡¯s unique situation, intaking garlic induces and aggravates their symptoms. They also hate being poked with silver items, because silver has a very strong antibacterial effect too. ¡°Anyway, you have to understand something: a vampire is a vampire, and a person with porphyria is a person with porphyria. They might seem like the same but are in fact completely different! I¡¯m asking you to find real vampires, wizards and magical things, not sick people. Understand? ¡°When you captured these people, did you not suspect anything when you faced no resistance, or death, and only got wails and cries? Oh, or did you think that it would work so long you complete the task superficially? This has already happened twice, and now this is the third time. My patience is really running out¡ª¡± ¡°Your Highness, I¡­¡± Consumed by terror, the chief guard was already at a loss for words. He had heard that the prince had many cruel methods for punishment. If the prince were to get angry¡­ Richard did not dawdle with the chief guard further. He moved forward to the deepest part of the dungeon and said, ¡°You said that you captured four people and that the last one is a real wizard. Fine. I¡¯ll see if he¡¯s a true or fake one.¡± Chapter 2 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios The chief guard mustered the strength to look up and calm down. He ran and caught up with the prince. ¡°Your Highness, he must be real. He must be real. I witnessed him releasing flames.¡± Richard, who had arrived at the deepest part of the dungeon, paused in his tracks when he reached the last cell. Inside was a black-robed man who was dressed like a wizard. He looked extremely mysterious, however he was also in a very awkward state. He had been tied up with four iron chains, one on each hand and leg, and he could not move freely at all. A rope was stuffed in his mouth, supposedly to stop him from chanting spells. At that moment, the man¡¯s expression was quite calm. No fear written on his face. He was different from the other three captives he had seen earlier. However, from his sharp gaze, Richard could tell that he might know some tricks and strategies. As such, the chances of him being a real wizard were near to zero. ¡°Your Highness, someone lodged a complaint about him stirring up trouble at a saloon. He refused to pay after eating, spread rumors about seeing a huge fire dragon, and claimed that he was a wizard. That caught my attention, so I led the soldiers to capture him. ¡°I witnessed him releasing flames when I captured him. He almost burned one of our soldiers. He¡¯s definitely a real wizard,¡± the chief guard said. The next moment, the chief guard took a bag from his subordinate and carefully showed it to the prince. ¡°Your Highness, these are his belongings. Inside are short staffs and all sorts of strange materials for casting spells.¡± At this juncture, the captured wizard in the cell spoke. Although a rope was stuffed in his mouth and his words were muffled, he still managed to threaten, ¡°Y- You better release me¡­ O- Or you will suffer my wrath. L- Let me tell you, I am a wizard. Do you know what a wizard can do? I can ride a fire dragon and easily kill you with my spells.¡± Richard ignored the wizard and reached for the bag. What greeted him after opening it were a few black wooden sticks, each with a length of over 20 centimeters, and a width of about one centimeter. The rest were bottles of unknown materials. Richard opened one of these bottles and discovered a yellow wax-like substance inside. It gave off a faint smell akin to garlic. He could not help but let out a mocking laugh. ¡°Your Highness, you¡ª¡± ¡°Is this the flame you saw?¡± Richard asked. As he spoke, he took out a short staff from the bag, dipped it in the yellow wax-like substance and struck it on the stone wall beside him. The strong friction increased the temperature. Boom! A ball of fire emerged at one end of the short staff. At this moment, the entire staff looked like a large matchstick. The chief guard¡¯s eyes popped out immediately. ¡°Your Highness, could it be that you¡­ know magic too?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± Richard retorted. ¡°I want to get to the bottom of magic and answer some other questions. But we need to be logical. Magic is magic, and tricks are tricks. If I could do magic, would I still need to waste time by getting you to capture people?¡± ¡°But you¡­¡± The chief guard could not help staring at the burning staff in Richard¡¯s hands. ¡°This is just phosphorus,¡± said Richard. As he spoke, he threw the staff into a small puddle of water on the floor to extinguish the fire. ¡°Phosphorus?¡± ¡°Yes, phosphorus.¡± Richard explained, ¡°This yellow wax-like substance is called phosphorus. Its melting point is 44.1 ¡ãC, and it can be ignited at 34 ¡ãC. Even under humid conditions, it can ignite at around 40 ¡ãC, like what just happened. It can be used to produce matchsticks, smoke grenades or similar items. It has got nothing to do with the magic from the legends. So you¡¯ve captured the wrong person again.¡± Richard gently patted the chief guard¡¯s shoulder as he spoke. Strangely, as Richard¡¯s hand landed, the chief guard¡¯s body sank further and further. He ended up sitting on the ground with a ghastly pale face, drained of any color. He looked up with a terrified expression. Glancing at Richard¡¯s stoic face, the chief guard¡¯s heart froze with fear. Bang! The chief guard began to hit his head against the ground. ¡°Your Highness, I did wrong, I did wrong. Please give me another chance. I will definitely capture the person you want.¡± ¡°This will be the last chance.¡± The chief guard was in daze. He then nodded repeatedly. ¡°Yes, yes.¡± Richard took a step forward and held the fake wizard¡¯s bag, prepared to leave. But suddenly, his eyes swept across something, and he took out an item from the bag. It was a piece of snake skin. Richard touched it, and it felt warm, as if it had just been roasted in front of a furnace. It looked very extraordinary, like the kind of item he had been wanting for. Richard¡¯s eyes sharpened. He turned around and walked back to the cell. Holding the snake skin, he questioned the fake wizard, ¡°Tell me what this is.¡± Unexpectedly, the fake wizard thought that he now had some bargaining power. He looked up with a proud expression, his nose high in the air, and refused to respond. The chief guard tried too. ¡°Your Highness, how should we deal with him?¡± The wizard in the cell cast a murderous and vicious glance at him, seemingly saying, ¡°How are you going to deal with me?! Let me go soon, or I¡¯ll make you pay for it.¡± Richard smiled coldly. He took out another stick from the bag, dipped it in phosphorus and ignited it with a strike against the wall. And he then threw the staff inside. The flaming stick streaked across the air, traversed the iron bars of the cell, and landed in the cell of the locked up wizard. Upon contact with fire, the hay on the floor started burning. Very soon, flames and puffs of black smoke rose into the air. Under the terrified gaze of the wizard, Richard turned around and said to the chief guard, ¡°How do we deal with useless people? Release the sick people that you¡¯ve captured. As for this prisoner¡­ I am very annoyed with him. So burn him to death.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Tap, tap, tap. Richard walked to the exit. Behind him, the muffled grunts of the wizard gradually turned into words. ¡°Young man, you¡­ come back. ¡°Let me go. ¡°Please. ¡°Your- Your Highness. I was wrong. I¡¯ll tell you about what you just asked. ¡°Your- Your Highness, I know you¡¯re interested in wizard-related stuff. That thing is the skin of a flame python.¡± Tap. Richard suddenly stopped walking. Beside him, the chief guard had not even come to his senses when Richard ordered, ¡°Put out the fire.¡± ¡°Uh?¡± The chief guard was stunned. He hurriedly turned around and hollered furiously. More than 20 soldiers stumbled to them, each of them carrying a wooden bucket of water. They ran to the fake wizard¡¯s cell and threw the water into it without a moment of hesitation. Splash, splash. The fire was not big, so it was completely extinguished with about 10 buckets of water. Of course, the chained up wizard had also become a drowned rat. Click. The cell doors opened. Richard stepped across the wet hay and entered the cell. He glanced at the wizard and signaled to the chief guard. Taking the hint, the man moved forward and removed the rope from the wizard¡¯s mouth. The wizard heaved a sigh of relief. Before he could speak, Richard said, ¡°You have one minute to convince me not to kill you. If what you say doesn¡¯t convince me, don¡¯t worry, your impending death will definitely be more miserable and painful than being burnt to death.¡± The wizard trembled all over. ¡°I¡ª¡± ¡°You have 50 seconds left.¡± The wizard understood immediately that his life was entirely up to him now. He said hurriedly, ¡°Your Highness, I will tell the truth. I am not a wizard. I am just a swindler. I¡ª¡± Richard was disinterested in his honesty. He was expressionless when he reminded him, ¡°40 seconds.¡± The wizard¡¯s voice got higher. ¡°I know you¡¯re interested in wizards and magic. A few days ago, I witnessed a flame python. It must be of some use to you. The skin in the bag is one of the many pieces of the python skin that I picked up. I sold the rest of the pieces.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen the flame python? Tell me, when was this specifically?¡± Richard asked, staring into the eyes of the wizard. The next moment, the wizard¡¯s eyes unknowingly moved down and to the right. Richard knew that this was a subconscious reaction when trying to recollect an event. As such, he was most probably telling the truth. He said, ¡°It happened three days ago.¡± ¡°Morning or afternoon?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Afternoon.¡± ¡°How was the weather? Sunny or rainy?¡± ¡°Sunny.¡± ¡°Where is the sun? Is it in front of you, behind you, to your left or to your right?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Left.¡± ¡°How did it look?¡± ¡°Similar to an ordinary python. Just that it was in flames.¡± ¡°What was its color?¡± ¡°Red.¡± ¡°Body length?¡± ¡°More than three meters.¡± ¡°How much more?¡± ¡°About¡­ half a meter.¡± ¡°Specific location.¡± ¡°On a small hill about 10 kilometers from the city.¡± ¡­ After a long time, Richard stopped interrogating him, and the chief guard whispered, ¡°Your Highness. ¡± ¡°Release him and tie him on a horse. Prepare a team of men and leave the city with me immediately.¡± ¡°N- now?¡± ¡°Now,¡± Richard said. ¡°If we capture the flame python that he mentioned, we¡¯ll release him. If not, we¡¯ll cut his flesh piece by piece and feed it to the hounds.¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± ¡°Your Highness, Your Highness!¡± the wizard yelled, terrified about getting killed. He reminded hurriedly, ¡°Your Highness, you have to be well prepared to catch that python. After all, it¡¯s a living thing that went through a magical transformation.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get my men to bring more bows and arrows then.¡± After pondering it, the chief guard added, ¡°And a huge net¡ª¡± ¡°That won¡¯t work. You can¡¯t use a net,¡± said the wizard anxiously. ¡°The python¡¯s entire body can turn into flames, the net will get burned.¡± ¡°Tell me how then?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± The wizard¡¯s voice immediately softened. ¡°Bring the necessary, and select the smarter soldiers to come along,¡± Richard decided. ¡°Also.. ¡°Go to the KGB [1. The KGB, translated in English as the Committee for State Security, was the secret police force that was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until 6 November 1991.] store and notify them to send their third steward to come with me in the search for the flame python. Ask him to bring the items I ordered.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡­ Chapter 3 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios The sun was shining brightly. The large burning orb of the sun in June seemed to have gone mad, scorching the world relentlessly. The air was extremely hot. There was a river amid the wilderness, its water boiling. Next to the river was a majestic city¡ªBlue Lion City. As the capital of the Blue Lion Kingdom, it was magnificent, like an ancient behemoth lying on the ground. Inside the city, the buildings were scattered and distributed in a radial pattern with the palace as the focal point. Suddenly, the door of the palace opened, and a swift squadron rushed outside the city, pedestrians on the street hurrying to dodge them. Soon the squadron left Blue Lion City and embarked on their journey. They passed by the steaming dirt road outside the city, leaving yellow dust on their heels. However, the squadron was oblivious to their surroundings, keeping their formation and heading far away. An hour later, Richard reached an extremely remote hillside more than 10 kilometers away from the city and jumped off his horse. The squadron behind him also dismounted one after another and spread away, vaguely protecting Richard and a strong man in black. The strong man in black carried a box in his hands. He was the third steward of the KGB store. Of course, there was a lot more than that behind his secret identity, since he was also the person groomed to be Richard¡¯s absolute confidant. In fact, the KGB and the rest of the shops had all been established and were controlled by Richard, overtly or secretly, and he had a much stronger and far-reaching power than the prince. The reason for this was that, on the one hand, he had much higher abilities than ordinary princes, they were even beyond this era. On the other hand, he had never felt that being a prince was valuable at all, especially after what had happened a few years ago. In his opinion, being a prince was more of a disguise and¡­ a hindrance. If possible, he would like to put aside his identity and do what he wanted without any restrictions. For example, studying the world, studying the power of magic that had always been rumored to be real. Thinking of this, Richard looked to the side. The wizard from the dungeon was tied to a horse, his face pale from the shaky ride on the horse. After the dungeon¡¯s chief guard untied the rope and pulled him down the horse, he could not even stand still. The chief guard ignored him. After finding out that the wizard was a liar, his fear of him had disappeared, and what was left was nothing but anger. He kicked the wizard, bringing him to Richard, and said with a smile on his face, ¡°Your Highness, look.¡± Richard ignored the chief guard, looked at the wizard, and asked, ¡°Where did you see the python you were talking about? Show me.¡± ¡°It was¡­¡± the wizard raised his head and glanced into the distance. He took a careful look and finally stretched out his hand. ¡°It was just under that tree. When I passed by, the python suddenly appeared and almost scared me to death. But fortunately, it did not seem to be interested in me and left quickly. That was how my life was saved and I found its molted skin.¡± Richard nodded and turned to look at the chief guard. The chief guard waved his hand vigorously, and the dozen or so soldiers who had come with him pulled out their weapons one after another, quickly surrounding the area in front of them. 10 meters, 20 meters, 30 meters. They reached the place the wizard had indicated easily. However, there was not even a rabbit, much less a big python. The chief guard directed his gaze at the wizard, somewhat unkind. The wizard looked timidly at Richard, in fear that he might think that he was lying. He hurried to explain, ¡°Y- Your Highness, it may be that the python has gone elsewhere.¡± Richard knelt down, his eyes on the ground. He scraped away the young weeds, revealing a trace that seemed to have been burned by flames. It seemed that a flame python had indeed passed by. After taking a bit of soil in his nails, Richard brought it to his nose and sniffed. It smelled of phosphorus and something similar to garlic. There was also a uniquely odd smell of sulfur. Richard stood up and turned to the chief guard to give his commands. ¡°Search this place and pay attention to the ground and the trees. Snakes are poikilotherms. If the metamorphosis hasn¡¯t changed its characteristics, given this weather, it is very likely that it¡¯s hidden somewhere in the shade. Pay attention to these areas.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The chief guard nodded vigorously. Without another word, he quickly conveyed Richard¡¯s order to his subordinates, telling the soldiers to disperse and continue the search in the area in front. About 10 minutes later, they returned with news. A python had been found in a dense patch of grass more than 200 meters ahead, but they weren¡¯t sure if it was the python they were looking for. Without any hesitation, Richard rushed to a spot several meters away from the python, but he was stopped by the chief guard. ¡°Your Highness, you have to be careful. Pythons are very dangerous,¡± the chief guard said. ¡°Should I ask someone to test if it will catch fire?¡± Richard shook his head and said without a trace of emotion on his face, ¡°No need.¡± As he spoke, Richard looked at the patch of grass tens of meters away. A brown piebald python was lying there, its eyes closed as if it was taking a nap. Under the light, the python¡¯s surroundings were slightly distorted. Richard knew that it was the refraction of light when passing through a different media. There was nothing in the atmosphere around the python. There was only one explanation for the refraction of light: the surrounding temperature was very high, much higher than the average air temperature. Taking into account that the weeds around him weren¡¯t charred, the temperature could not exceed their combustion point of 200 ¡ãC. It was likely to be between tens degrees, to slightly more than 100 ¡ãC. An average python would not be capable of this. The answer was obvious. Richard said to the chief guard, ¡°Tell your people to get ready. There is no need to test it, catch it right away. First, test the defenses of our target with bows and arrows. It is best to catch it alive, preferably after seriously injuring it. If it doesn¡¯t work¡­ kill it before catching it.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The chief guard nodded. He quickly left Richard¡¯s side and began giving his commands, shouting as he arranged for several soldiers with the best shooting skills to pick up their bows and arrows. To Richard, the bows and arrows used by the soldiers resembled the medieval English longbow. These bows and arrows were generally about 1.5 meters long, and some were up to two meters long. The back of the bow was made with a whole piece of bent wood, yew, which was strong and elastic. The bowstring was made from lamb intestines or cattle tendons. This set gave the arrow great power and a longer range due to the exceptionally long back of the bow. It was far more powerful than an ordinary modern set, and the arrow could reach a target at a 350 meter distance. Usually, it could penetrate a leather armor at a distance between 200 meters to 250 meters. Within 200 meters, it could penetrate a chain mail. It could penetrate a plate armor within 100 meters. Within 50 meters, apart from shields and special armors, there was nothing that could resist its shots, making it practically invincible. At that moment, the distance between the soldiers and the python was about 50 meters. The four soldiers were all veterans, and because of years of archery training, it was obvious that one of their arms was longer than the other. This was a sign of abundant experience. They picked up their bows, took out the bundle of 24 arrows from the quiver behind them, untied them, and stuck them directly on the ground in front of them. Each arrow was nearly one meter long. When inserted into the ground, they could be easily plucked out without the need to bend down. This was so that they could shoot the arrows continuously. The four soldiers were ready. They looked at each other and took a deep breath. Each grabbed an arrow, placed it on the longbow and aimed. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Four arrows shot out like meteors, shooting at where the python was. However, none of them hit the target, the nearest arrow had landed more than 10 centimeters away from the python. After all, the soldiers were not marksmen with great precision. They usually relied on consecutive shootings to ensure they hit the target on the battlefield. Richard was not angry, he just continued watching. The four soldiers, who had already failed once, quickly grabbed more of the arrows before them and placed them on their longbows. This time they took a little longer to aim, and then there were four shooting sounds. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. The python, which had been alerted, had been about to react when four arrows fell, two of which hit it directly. One arrow shot the tail, while the other pierced the body directly, and dark red blood flowed out quickly. Hiss. The python hissed loudly. It seemed to be angry, and it twisted violently, breaking the arrows easily. Opening its mouth, the snake spit out sparks and glided toward the crowd. The atmosphere instantly became tense, and several soldiers almost retreated subconsciously. The person who was most excited at this moment was not Richard, nor the chief guard, but the wizard. The wizard almost jumped up, grabbing the chief guard, and said repeatedly, ¡°There it is! There it is! I am telling the truth. There are really pythons that can catch fire here. His Highness has promised me, so you can¡¯t kill me.¡± The chief guard was tense, he did not have the time for him. With a wave of his hand, he pushed the wizard to the ground, drew out his long sword, calming the panicking soldiers with his presence, and shouted, ¡°What are you afraid of? Take your bow and arrow and continue shooting. The rest of the soldiers, prepare nets to catch it alive.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the soldiers responded quickly and started working. Chapter 4 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Whoosh. The soldiers continued to shoot arrows at the python. The arrows were getting closer to the python, and the archers were getting more accurate in their shots. Soon, the python¡¯s body was pierced with arrows, blood flowed, and it seemed to be seriously injured. Its slithering speed had slowed down as well. The chief guard seized the opportunity and waved his hand at the other soldiers to pounce on the python with a big net, trapping it. The net had a very small mesh size, approximately as large as a nail. It was impossible for the python, which was more than three meters long, to get out. The more it struggled in the net, the more it was trapped in it. The chief guard curled his lips. Just when he thought that they had succeeded, the soldiers who had surrounded the python with nets suddenly screamed, and they quickly dispersed. ¡°This¡ª¡± The chief guard looked closely and had a big shock. Yellow and orange flames came spewing from the python. They were more than half a meter high. The flames burned the entire net and the arrows pierced into its body. The next moment, the python increased its speed, slithering forward, and bit the soldier who was the slowest to retreat. The soldier screamed and was strangled by the python, dying the next instant. The python then went after the other soldiers, leaving a scorched corpse behind it. Damn it. The chief guard¡¯s eyes turned slightly red. Richard¡¯s eyes flashed slightly as well. The color of the flame was closely related to its temperature. Leaving the combustible materials¡¯ possible effects aside, generally speaking, the brighter the color, the higher the temperature. As such, the most common example was the stove fire, that had a pure blue color, and its greenish-blue (cyan) flames could basically reach 2500 ¡ãC. The temperature of a red flame was generally around 1000 ¡ãC. As for black flames, they might look special, however they were caused due to incomplete combustion and a large amount of smoke. Their temperature was only about 300 ¡ãC, which was far lower than charcoal fire (about 600 ¡ãC). According to the current orange flame that came from the python, the temperature should be around 1500 ¡ãC. Although it was not as strong as a cyan flame, it must not be underestimated. After all, the melting point of iron was only at 1538 ¡ãC, and the flame right now could almost melt steel. ¡°It seems to be a magical creature,¡± Richard said to himself. ¡°I am finally not disappointed. It is just that it won¡¯t be that easy to capture it.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± There was another scream. The flame python had once again strangled a soldier that had lagged behind and taken his life. The chief guard glared at the sight before him, the scene red, his menacing nature unleashed. The python was now chasing a third soldier, who had his back facing him. He gritted his teeth severely, clenched the long sword in his hand, and rushed towards the python. 30 meters, 25 meters, and 20 meters. The billowing heat that emanated from the python¡¯s body was palpable from a distance. The chief guard could feel a slight tingling sensation on his exposed skin, but he disregarded it and continued to approach the python. 20 meters, 15 meters, 10 meters. The iron armor on the chief guard¡¯s body became extremely hot. His skin was scorching like soldering iron, his expression slightly distorted. But he endured it as he raised the long sword up high and aimed at the python¡¯s head, about to rush forward to chop it off. At that moment, a short arrow was shot from behind him and wheezed past his ears, slashing his face, and bringing about a stinging pain. The chief guard was taken aback. He subconsciously looked back and saw Richard standing in the distance, staring at him expressionless. He held a crossbow in one hand as he made a gesture with the other, telling him to come back. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to die, just come back,¡± Richard said matter-of-factly. ¡°Your Highness, I¡­¡± The chief guard hesitated for a moment, but he finally chose to obey his commands. He quickly returned to Richard¡¯s side, panting. ¡°Your Highness, the flame python is really difficult to deal with. There is no way to catch it with a rope net. Should I go back and order the craftsman to make an iron net? Otherwise, if this continues, I¡¯m afraid that none of my men will survive.¡± ¡°I already told you during the ride here that ordinary nets wouldn¡¯t work,¡± the wizard whispered beside him. ¡°I dare you to say that again!¡± The chief guard glared at him as if he was about to eat the wizard. ¡°If you hadn¡¯t hidden the strength of this damn python, my men wouldn¡¯t have suffered so badly. I think you did it on purpose!¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Richard said. ¡°Let¡¯s not discuss whether he did deliberately or not. However, even if we went back to make an iron net, it would be useless. The python¡¯s flame temperature is sufficient to melt the iron net.¡± ¡°Then what should we do?¡± The chief guard was anxious. ¡°There is a way,¡± Richard said, turning his head to look at the strong man in black next to him. The strong man in black had carried a box and followed him all the time, without saying a word. He was like a shadow, and now was the time to use this shadow. ¡°Use the latest product I told you to bring from the shop,¡± Richard said in a low voice. ¡°Yes.¡± The strong man in black nodded. Without another word, he quickly opened the box and took out a bomb from inside. Well, a bomb. At least it looked like a bomb¡ªa most primitive bomb¡ª, a metal ball with a long lead. After taking out the bomb, the strong man in black started to move without waiting for Richard¡¯s command. He raised his arms and threw the bomb far away. The strong man in black had great strength and was good at throwing. He flung the heavy metal ball like a grenade. It flew through the air and accurately reached the flame python. The flame python emanated flames all over its body. There was no need to light the fuse of the bomb, it was set on fire automatically. ¡°Get down!¡± Richard yelled immediately. No one dared disobey him, so they lay flat on the ground. The next moment, there was a huge explosion, everyone felt a sharp pain in their ears. The entire ground shook violently, and a strong wind blew by, stirring up a large cloud of dust. When everything subsided, the chief guard and his soldiers stood up together, looking at the place the python had laid, and they gaped in shock. The python had at first been insufferably arrogant. However it was now flayed completely, its flesh torn. Its body was almost split into two pieces, laying on the ground like a broken piece of dead wood, panting heavily. But the chief guard erred on the side of caution. After getting permission from Richard, he immediately ordered the soldiers to shoot another round of arrows with the longbows from a distance. He was relieved only when the python was finally dead. After this, the chief guard turned to look at Richard. He did not have much excitement on his face. He maintained a calm expression as he said, ¡°Bring the python and hurry back to the city. I must quickly dissect and study the python. The longer we wait, the less reactive it will be, and its characteristics will change. Also, no one is to speak a word to anyone about what happened today, understand?¡± ¡°Uh, yes,¡± the chief guard quickly responded. He then told the soldiers to tie the three-meter-long python to the horse, ignoring the hapless horse shivering in fear. Richard turned to look at the strong man in black and whispered, ¡°The power of the explosives is still quite weak. According to my estimations, it should have killed the python immediately. Continue to work on improving the explosives. I will provide you with some insight.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, you can go back now.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The strong man in black carried the box and left. Richard mounted his horse and returned to Blue Lion City with the squadron. Chapter 5 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios In the afternoon, at the Blue Lion City Palace. Accompanied by the sound of horses galloping, Richard returned to his residence with the chief guard and the rest of the soldiers following behind. The first thing that appeared in their field of vision was a large square with a radius of nearly 100 meters. It was paved with large smooth stones and was spotlessly clean. On one side of the square, there was a long flight of stairs that led to an enormous palace. Richard dismounted the horse in the square. The chief guard gave clear commands to the soldiers, ordering them to take the dead python to the palace. Richard followed them. He had yet to take a few steps when a voice sounded behind him, followed by rapid footsteps. A person caught up to them. ¡°Your Highness, Your Highness.¡± Richard turned and saw a young man in his twenties approaching him. His clothes were gorgeous, the edges of the sleeves embroidered with gold, and the collar was sewed with complicated patterns. His blond hair shone like gold, his kind face seemed to be able to end all malice. This person was Richard¡¯s Chief Bodyguard, who was responsible for leading the entire team of bodyguards that ensured Richard¡¯s safety. His name was Edward Angele, and his status in the court was unusual. He was the son of an earl, which meant he was a nobleman. The reason why he was willing to be the Chief Bodyguard was not because his family had fallen in disgrace. Instead, it was because his family was loyal to the crown and wished to establish a good relationship with the royal family. This was very common behavior of the nobles in the Middle Ages. In a certain sense, this could be seen as taking someone hostage. However if it was done properly, they could also obtain huge benefits. For example, if Richard became the next king, as the Chief Bodyguard, Edward and his family would naturally receive special treatment. By then, his father might not be an earl anymore, but a marquis. Edward himself clearly understood this, and he always served Richard with all his heart. However, it could also be said that his only purpose was pleasing Richard, as he was not very capable. He only knew a few moves of court swordsmanship, These moves might look good, yet they were not effective at all. His skills were only sufficient for a performance, and if he were to be in a real battle, he would be worse than a soldier. Because of this, Richard had not notified him when he had gone to the dungeon or gone to catch the python this time. He wondered where he had learned of the news. Richard was still thinking when Chief Bodyguard Edward caught up to him, stopping at a distance from Richard, panting slightly. ¡°Your Highness, I heard that you went to the dungeons this morning. At noon, you even took someone from the dungeons to go out of the city to catch a python?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Richard responded and stepped forward. Upon hearing Richard¡¯s confirmation, Edward immediately became anxious and said, ¡°Your Highness, I am your Chief Bodyguard, and the bodyguards are your most loyal subordinates. You left us behind, went to the dungeons, and then on a search for a python alone. What if someone had harmed you? What if you had gotten injured? Even if the entire bodyguard unit commited suicide, there would be no way to rid ourselves of the guilt.¡± Richard glanced at Edward. He did not feel that the other party was telling the truth, yet he didn¡¯t bother with it and just said lightly, ¡°Edward, if your swordsmanship improved, I would consider bringing you along next time. Besides, who in the whole kingdom would dare to harm me?¡± Edward¡¯s eyes flashed. He approached Richard and reminded him in a low voice, ¡°Your Highness, you have to be really careful. The eldest prince has always disliked you, and now that His Majesty is sick again, what if¡ª¡± ¡°There is no what if.¡± Richard shook his head and sneered, ¡°The king is not dead yet, so my dear brother, William Austin, will dare not do anything to me.¡± ¡°However¡ª¡± Edward wanted to say something, but Richard waved his hand and ignored him, walking to the other side of the square and going up the stairs. He passed through twelve marble pillars, each as thick as a man, before entering the palace hall. Edward had to rush to follow him. The hall was more than 200 square meters large, which was reasonably wide. However, it was very crowded in that instant. There were dozens of tables on the floor, and various apparatuses and equipment had been placed on them. In front of each table, there was a busy servant, plump or slender, tall or short, black or white, nervously operating the apparatuses. On a table near the door was a rudimentary distillation equipment. In the center was a pot with boiling water. The mouth of the pot was sealed, only a leather tube leading to the outside, and it was connected to a strange-looking iron pipe. The center of the iron pipe was immersed in water. One side of the pipe stood high, connected to a leather tube. The other side of the pipe was bent, connected to a glass funnel that looked like an ox horn, and a colorless liquid dripped from it into a porcelain bottle. Puff, puff, puff, puff, puff, puff. As there were some problems where these devices were connected, white mist constantly emerged from them. There was a slightly pungent alcohol smell in the air. The liquid that dripped into the porcelain bottle at the end slowed down as well. Drip, drip, drip¡­ drip. A servant in a ponytail looked at the device in front of her with some bewilderment, her eyes wide, and she was clueless. Richard frowned. When he stepped closer, the servant in the ponytail immediately seemed to be electrocuted, and her body stiffened. ¡°Y- Your Highness.¡± ¡°I told you to distill highly concentrated alcohol. How is it going?¡± ¡°I- I-¡± The servant in the ponytail trembled. However, in order to avoid being scolded, she struggled hard to reply, ¡°It is¡­ it is still¡­ okay.¡± ¡°Okay?¡± Richard was expressionless. He pointed at the pungent white mist that constantly emerged from where the devices connected with each other and asked, ¡°Is this what you mean by okay? What about the airtightness that I mentioned? The vapor of the alcohol is leaking. How can you make a highly concentrated alcohol solution like this?¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± Richard then stretched his hands toward the water basin where the iron pipe had been inserted. He checked the temperature and said, ¡°How long has it been since you last changed the water? The water is hot. Do you think this can be used for condensation? Do you think the high-temperature alcohol vapor can turn into droplets when it becomes cold and then get collected by the ox horn tube into the bottle like this? I remember telling you and the rest yesterday about the main steps of distillation. Why did it turn out like this?¡± ¡°Your Highness, I- I-¡± The servant in the ponytail trembled, on the verge of crying. ¡°Your Highness, I was wrong, I am too stupid, I can¡¯t remember. Y- Your Highness, please give me another chance, I- I will definitely¡ª¡± ¡°Forget it, no need,¡± Richard said lightly. ¡°Like I said back then, servants in my palace can make mistakes, including murder. But there is one thing that I need, and that is to understand my explanation and then execute it. ¡°You don¡¯t understand, or you¡¯ve forgotten what I said. It¡¯s not that you are stupid, but that you have difficulty learning. The last thing I need is people with learning difficulties. I don¡¯t have enough time and energy to ensure science education for all. I don¡¯t have enough time and energy to train everyone to the level of junior high school students with scientific accomplishments beyond the limits of this period. ¡°So from now on, you are no longer needed in the palace. You can pack your things this afternoon and leave. Don¡¯t make me repeat myself.¡± As soon as Richard gave his order, the beautiful servant with a ponytail trembled, and her face turned pale. Once she was kicked out of the palace, she would never find a place where she could earn five silver coins in a month. Her poor family would certainly not survive, which would undoubtedly be a disaster for her. The servant with a ponytail couldn¡¯t help shouting, ¡°Your Highness, Your Highness! Please, give me another chance. M- my father owes a lot of money. If I leave this place, we will have no money to pay the debts. He will be beaten to death, please, I beg you.¡± As if he did not hear it, Richard walked into the depths of the palace, and the servant¡¯s face turned slightly desperate. Edward, the Chief Bodyguard who was following Richard, saw it. He glanced at the pretty-looking servant with a ponytail and at the rest of the troll-like servants who were working in the hall, and his eyes twinkled. He hurried to catch up with Richard. ¡°Your Highness, the maid, she¡¯s called Eve, and she is actually quite capable. It¡¯s just that she hasn¡¯t been here for too long and is not familiar with the procedures, so she didn¡¯t do a good job. Since her family is facing financial difficulties, why don¡¯t we allow her to stay for a few more days? If she is willing to work harder¡­¡± Richard stopped and looked at Edward, his expression calm. Edward was shocked, fear written on his face. ¡°Your Highness, I¡ª¡± ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking about,¡± Richard said. ¡°But I have to tell you, Edward, I can tolerate a person¡¯s ugly looks, bad personality, and corrupt behavior, as long as she can complete the task. On the contrary, if a person has low IQ, a lack of skills, and poor learning abilities, I can¡¯t stand her no matter how beautiful she is. In science, there are only numerical values, there is no room for beauty. ¡°In short, I am very busy. I have been busy since I came to this world decades ago, trying to understand unusual things, such as magic, and seeking to find the answer to one question. Therefore, everything that affects me is an obstacle, and I will not put up with obstacles. If you feel sorry for that girl, well¡­ fine, she can stay, but only if you help her do everything well, that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Edward lowered his head and his expression changed quickly. After a while, he lowered his head and said, ¡°I see, Your Highness.¡± Afterward, he turned to the servant with a ponytail. The servant watched Edward approaching. Her eyes flickered, and she whispered tentatively, ¡°My lord, look at me.¡± Edward did not speak and just continued to approach her. The girl put on a puzzled expression and backed off subconsciously. Edward suddenly reached out. ¡°Ah!¡± the servant yelled. Edward had grabbed her ponytail. Edward pulled hard, and it was so painful that tears came out of the servant¡¯s eyes. Regardless, Edward dragged the servant by her hair and strode out of the palace. He then forcefully pushed her to the ground and said coldly, ¡°Let me warn you, you have angered the prince. Get out of the palace immediately. Don¡¯t ever appear before His Highness again or you shall die!¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± The servant stood up in horror. Edward had already flicked his sleeves, turned and walked back into the palace, chasing after Richard with a smile on his face. ¡°Your Highness, I have already taken care of that stupid servant. This afternoon, I will get someone to find a smarter and more obedient servant to replace her. Is that alright?¡± ¡°Whatever you want.¡± Richard could not be bothered. ¡°Actually¡­ Your Highness, you can always have other people complete any task you want. There are many people who would help you with it. You don¡¯t need to do everything yourself. After all, Your Highness, you should be doing more important things,¡± Edward said in a persuasive tone. ¡°Such as?¡± ¡°For example, ahem¡­ Your Highness, His Majesty¡¯s health is rather poor lately. Now that he is bedridden, we don¡¯t know whether he will recover at all. If something goes wrong and the eldest prince succeeds to the throne, you will inevitably be left at a disadvantage. It is better to prepare in advance. ¡°You could get in touch with some nobles and win their support. Like that, you can at least ensure that your own interests won¡¯t be at risk, and you can get a satisfactory territory with a satisfactory title, like Grand Duke.¡± After swallowing and seeing that Richard wasn¡¯t really reacting, Edward continued, ¡°Your Highness, I know that you are now looking for all kinds of weird things and conducting various studies related to wizards. But in comparison, this is rather unnecessary. It¡¯s fine to treat it as a hobby and pastime, but it¡¯s really irrational to put all your energy into¡ª¡± ¡°Heh.¡± Richard chuckled. ¡°You mean to tell me that I should get involved in royal politics?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ This¡ª¡± ¡°Edward, let me ask you, what do you think is more important to me, royal politics or wizards and magic?¡± ¡°I think royal politics are more important to you,¡± Edward said with a serious face. Richard shook his head slightly, stepped forward, pushed open a red wooden door, and walked in. Edward¡¯s expression slightly stiffened, and he stopped in front of the closed door. He knew that inside was Richard¡¯s private laboratory. It was usually used when Richard was conducting some special research himself and, during these moments, Richard hated being disturbed. He sighed softly and stopped outside, looking at the wooden door in front of him. Edward could not help but mutter to himself, ¡°Your Highness, you have to listen to what I say, otherwise, I will be put in a difficult position. My family has placed their hope of rising to power on you. Right now, the king is seriously ill, if you do nothing¡­¡± Chapter 6 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Ignoring Edward¡¯s words, Richard entered his private laboratory. A spacious room of around 50 square meters greeted him. The walls were painted in pale white, and there were a few joined black walnut tables, which resembled an operating table. On them was the python¡¯s carcass, which had just been brought by the soldiers. Surrounding the table were many wooden racks. Various apparatuses, experimentation materials, knives and tools were on these racks. Some of the racks were machines themselves. Most of these were far beyond the current level of science and technology in this world. Richard had spent a lot of effort getting these things constructed. Simply put, this room¡¯s technology was more than 300 years ahead of the era, and the science and logic used were at least seven to eight centuries advanced. Narrowing his eyes, Richard stepped towards a large wooden rack. There was a handle on its side. Below the handle was a nozzle, followed by a wooden bucket underneath it. Richard reached out and pulled the handle. At the same time, he placed his hand under the nozzle. Shortly, a colorless and transparent liquid with a pungent odor flowed out. This was a liquid with 75% alcohol content, and it had disinfecting properties. Richard rubbed it on each of his fingers meticulously. He turned off the nozzle only after ensuring that he had washed his hand thoroughly. After shaking his hands a few times until the remaining alcohol on them had evaporated, he moved to another wooden rack. He took a set of tools that had long been disinfected with alcohol and walked to the table with the python lying on it. Richard then glanced at the python¡¯s carcass. He meticulously examined this strange creature, whose entire body could be on fire. ¡°The head is disproportionately smaller than the rest of its body.¡± Richard used his hand to measure the python¡¯s skull. He pried open its mouth to look for thin and long poisonous fangs. ¡°It¡¯s not poisonous. The rostral area is flat. ¡°There are three pairs of pit organs.¡± Richard¡¯s gaze landed on the python¡¯s upper lip, which resembled a human¡¯s. He saw three pairs of pit organs and recognized them as the unique characteristic of pythons. They were akin to infrared sensors. They enabled pythons to sense warm-blooded animals in their surroundings at night, letting them determine the animals¡¯ exact locations, track them down and attack. ¡°Brown.¡± Richard averted his gaze from the python¡¯s head and glanced at its entire body and back. ¡°The back is slightly yellow, it has arrow-like patterns and many irregular cloud-shaped lines. ¡°The stomach is white.¡± Richard used a bit of strength and turned the python around. He looked at the lower body, the python¡¯s cloaca. He then saw a bulge. ¡°It also has a pair of degenerated claw-like limbs. ¡°Judging from this, it resembles the Burmese python from the Earth. It could be a related species,¡± Richard finished the examination and muttered to himself. The information about the Burmese python quickly came to his mind. The Burmese python (scientific name: Python bivitattus), native to a large area of Southeast Asia, was considered a subspecies of python molurus. It was one of the largest species of snakes on Earth, famous for its enormous size. They were capable of reaching 7 meters or more in length and weighing up to 90 kilograms. The longest burmese python in the world was 9.75 meters long. ¡°Seven meters? 9.75 meters?¡± Richard muttered. He seemed lost in his thoughts as he glanced at the python, which was only less than three meters long, on the table. ¡°If it¡¯s a related species, it most probably hadn¡¯t reached maturity. However, it could already release flames of 1500 oC at such a young age, what could it have become later on? Tsk. Indeed, it is a magical creature.¡± Next, taking a deep breath, Richard grabbed the knife he had prepared and made an incision in the python¡¯s body. Slash. The sharp blade slit the python¡¯s skin effortlessly. With a little strength, Richard cut deeper and dissected the entire body, until all the internal organs were before him. Richard closed his eyes as he searched through them. Based on fiction novels from modern Earth, magical creatures such as the one before him should have a ¡°crystal core¡± or a ¡°magical core¡± in their bodies to supply them energy for releasing the magic powers. From a scientific aspect, since the python¡¯s entire body could be on fire, it had to have an extra special organ or gland. But Richard did not find any of this. Richard frowned, and his gaze landed on the python¡¯s skin. He remembered distinctly that the snake skin from the fake wizard¡¯s bag had felt warm when he had touched it. Obviously, there was something special about the snake skin. Pursing his lips, he held the knife and cut deeper to separate the snake skin from the flesh. Very soon, Richard was holding all of the snake skin. After soaking the snake skin and boiling it in water for a long time, a layer of a sticky, oily and yellow substance floated to the surface. ¡°This is¡­¡± Without any hesitation, Richard scooped up the yellow substance quickly and placed it on a metal plate that he had taken from the wooden rack beside him. He tried to lit it up. Poof! Orange flames rose, increasing the temperature instantly. However, the metal plate had no signs of being burned. When he touched it, it actually felt icy cold. Looking at the diminishing yellow substance in the metal plate, Richard had a realization. ¡°This snake skin goes through the process of osmoses, from the scale to the skin surface, and then burns its solvent matter into scorching flames used for attacks. When burning, it takes away a large amount of heat through vaporization. The skin surface is maintained at a low temperature, it doesn¡¯t get burned. ¡°This resembles the magic trick of lighting a handkerchief on fire without burning it. Before the magic trick, the cotton cloth is first soaked in alcohol and then lit with fire. Because of vaporization, an endothermic process, the handkerchief¡¯s temperature is lower than the burning point of cotton. Therefore, it ends completely unscathed even after the flames die and the alcohol is used up. ¡°This means that,¡±¡ªRichard¡¯s eyes lit up¡ª¡±the so-called magical substance should be in this. If we filter the water, oil and impurities, what is left should be pure magic substance. ¡°Then¡­¡± Richard did not continue talking but sprang into action immediately. He poured all of the oily yellow substance into a bottle and began distilling it. Of course, it was faster for Richard to do it himself than to ask the servants outside. Soon after, Richard had distilled the excess water from the oily yellow substance and segregated the oil and impurities. At last, he got a small bottle of yellow liquid which looked like molten gold. ¡°Is this real magic substance?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes narrowed into a slit when he looked at the golden liquid. He had a feeling that some of his questions would be clarified. Next, Richard sanitized both his hands with alcohol quickly and left the laboratory in large strides with the bottle of liquid. A few hours had already passed, and the sky had darkened. Outside the door, Edward was still waiting for him. The moment he saw Richard coming out, he tried to continue persuading him. However, Richard waved his hand and said, ¡°Edward, get someone to clean up my laboratory and guard the palace¡¯s main entrance. I have something urgent and important to attend to. Don¡¯t allow anyone to come and disturb me. I¡¯m skipping dinner. We can talk tomorrow if there is anything.¡± ¡°Er¡­¡± Upon finishing his words, Richard walked through the hall and ascended to the second floor via the wooden stairs. He entered his bedroom and the study room attached, shutting the door with a bang. Chapter 7 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Standing in his study room, Richard was greeted by five to six tall book shelves lined against the walls. Each shelf was filled with books and scrolls. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Richard walked to one of the book shelves. He stepped on his wooden ladder and reached his hands to the top of the shelf. After pushing away many books and scrolls, Richard found a cold, black, metal box in the deepest part of the shelf. This black metal box was about 30 centimeters in both length and width, and five to six centimeters tall. It had complicated lines on it, and it looked strange and mysterious. Richard used his strength to pull out the black metal box from the shelf. He came down from the ladder and then placed the box on the wooden table in the study room. He touched the box¡¯s surface, which was as cold as ice. There was a flash in his eyes, and his gaze landed on a dent on the surface. The dent looked like an opened mouth carved amid the metallic lines on the box. If he stared at it from a certain angle, he could see a row of small letters that read: ¡°Use magic to awaken me and I will tell you the truth about this world.¡± A wizard book. Or the cover of a wizard book. Richard had found this in the deepest part of the royal library after much difficulty. Even the most senior librarian had been unsure of its origins. The librarian had only known that it was a strange book, with an evil feeling to it and a vicious curse. He had claimed that if he were to come into frequent contact with it, he would either fall sick or have a sudden death. Of course, Richard did not believe in these so-called evil powers or curses. To him, this book merely had some volatile element harmful to the human body. As long as he paid attention to the ventilation, he would not die from that slow-acting ¡°poison.¡± However, it was not easy to uncover the book¡¯s secret. The cover of the book had a special design, and it was very hard to crack. If he tried to forcefully open it, there was a high chance of spoiling its content. Richard could take some precautions and reduce the chances of spoiling it, but he did not want to take the risk. Therefore, he had been diligently searching for magical creatures and magic-related individuals, hoping that he could attain some magic powers. At last, he had achieved it. Phew. Taking a deep breath, Richard tilted his head slightly and glanced at the golden liquid on the table beside him. ¡°Very soon, I will know whether I¡¯m right or wrong,¡± Richard muttered to himself. He took the bottle of golden liquid and removed the cork. Aiming at the dent on the metal box, he slowly poured the liquid into it. The dent soon was filled. After a long silence, there was a click, akin to a chain reaction being activated. The liquid in the dent came to a boil quickly, many bubbles forming on its surface. The entire metal cover began to shake slightly. Bang, bang, bang. A lock was cracked. Gulp! The book ¡°swallowed¡± the liquid entirely and it disappeared. The shaking intensified, the metal cover looking like a human trembling. The table¡¯s surface began to vibrate as well. At last, there was another click, and the metal cover automatically opened like a box, revealing the true wizard book lying in it. Richard gently took the book out of the box and placed it on the table. Just then, an unknowing voice came from the depths of the book, ¡°Who¡­ is this? Who is this?¡± ¡°Well?¡± Richard raised his eyebrows and flipped open the book. The first page of the book had no words on it, but there was a terrifying, ghastly-looking skull in the middle. There were scorching flames, which looked very real, in the eyes of the skull. Richard did not know if it was an illusion, but he felt the entire room¡¯s temperature rising. This¡­ Something even more shocking happened then. The picture of the skull moved, and it spoke in a cold and icy voice, ¡°Who is that? Who awakened me? Who wants to peep at the knowledge and treasure of Master Monroe? Answer me, or you will suffer the harshest punishment!¡± Anyone who witnessed this would be terrified, but not Richard. He narrowed his eyes and glanced at the skull on the page with interest, before saying, ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°I am the book spirit created by Master Monroe. My duty is to safeguard this book and select someone who is qualified to read it.¡± ¡°What can you do?¡± ¡°I can test whether the reader of this book is intelligent enough. If he is, he is fit to read this book. Otherwise, he will pay a price for his recklessness and ignorance.¡± ¡°What price?¡± ¡°Death!¡± The book spirit¡¯s voice was cold and heartless. Richard smiled. ¡°How interesting.¡± Then Richard asked, ¡°How do you test a person¡¯s intelligence?¡± ¡°A question for a question. If they can answer my question correctly and yet, I cannot answer theirs, they are considered smart enough. As long as I cannot answer their question, they can read this book without any punishment.¡± ¡°In that case,¡±¡ªRichard¡¯s eyes sparkled¡ª¡±what is your question?¡± ¡°Are you, the one who wants to peep at Master Monroe¡¯s knowledge, sure you¡¯re ready to accept the challenge?¡± the book spirit¡¯s voice turned serious. ¡°I¡¯ll have to try it no matter what,¡± said Richard. ¡°No matter if it is a success or a failure, I want to research your mechanism.¡± The book spirit was silent for a moment, as if pondering Richard¡¯s words. After a long pause, it said, ¡°Alright, since you have decided to take the challenge, answer this difficult question. There is a strange animal that has four legs in the morning, two at noon¡­¡± Richard was stunned upon hearing that. Wasn¡¯t it the riddle of the sphinx in Greek mythology from Earth? In Greek mythology, the sphinx, a lion with a human face, had sat on a cliff near a city named Thebes, standing in the way of any passersby and asking them the same riddle. Many people could not guess the riddle and were devoured heartlessly by the sphinx. Later on, someone called Oedipus answered it correctly. Out of shame, the sphinx had jumped off the cliff and died. Before the book spirit could finish its words, Richard could not resist interrupting him, ¡°And now you¡¯re going to tell me it has three in the evening, that it walks the slowest, and its body is weakest when he has the most number of legs, right? Then, you¡¯re going to ask me to guess what creature this is?¡± The book spirit suddenly stopped talking. It fell silent for a long time, deep in thought. This was seemingly the first time it encountered this. Richard spoke again to the book spirit, ¡°Alright, if that is the case, I can tell you that the answer is ¡®human.¡¯ When a human is a baby, in the morning of their life, he crawls on four feet, his hands and knees. As an adult, in the noon of their life, they walk on two feet. But when they are old, in the evening of their life, they walk with a cane, on three feet.¡± However, is it demanding enough to use a riddle to assess one¡¯s intelligence? Or perhaps its definition of intelligence is different from my understanding. Is it looking for wittiness, while I was thinking of intelligence? Chapter 8 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios ¡°This damn guy!¡± The book spirit sounded vengeful. It hollered furiously, interrupting Richard abruptly, ¡°Damn you, you¡¯re cheating! Since you already know the riddle and the answer, you must have heard it from those who successfully passed the test. Though you¡¯ve answered it correctly, your behavior is shameless and unscrupulous, I shall remember you forever.¡± ¡°Wait a minute!¡± Richard spoke. ¡°You said I found out about the riddle and the answer from those who¡¯ve passed the test? Are you saying that you only have one question for everyone who you¡¯ve tested?¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was silence, followed by a long pause. After some time, the book spirit said with a stiff voice, ¡°Young man, cut the crap. Tell me your question and we shall complete this test!¡± ¡°Alright, I will give you mine.¡± Richard thought for a moment and said, ¡°Well, here¡¯s a question. There are only four fundamental forces¡ªelectromagnetism, strong force, weak force, and gravity¡ªthat determine how particles interact in this world. Do you think a theory of everything, merging all four fundamental forces into a single mathematical framework, exists? Can we explain all the phenomena of physics with one theory? If yes, what is the core of this theory?¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was a silence, followed by a long and uncanny pause. ¡°So you cannot tell me the theory of everything?¡± Richard saw the book spirit muttering to itself, and he guessed what the problem was. He said, ¡°Is the format of this question too difficult? Alright, I¡¯ll ask a simpler true or false question. You just have to choose between right or wrong. For example, the Riemann hypothesis, one of the seven most difficult mathematical problems in the world. ¡°In mathematics, certain numbers have unique characteristics, natural numbers greater than 1 that are not a product of two smaller natural numbers. For example, 2, 3, 5, 7, and so on. These numbers are called prime numbers, and they have important functions in pure mathematics and applied mathematics. The distribution of primes within the natural numbers in general does not follow a regular pattern. ¡°However, someone called Riemann proposed a hypothesis. The distribution of prime numbers is closely related to a complex function: ¨C ¦Æ(s)= 1 + 1 / 2S+ 1 / 3S+ 1 / 4S+. Is this right or wrong?¡± There was pause, followed by a long and uncanny silence. Richard could not help but raise his eyebrows. ¡°You can¡¯t answer this either? So you can¡¯t answer questions that are beyond the limit of human knowledge? You don¡¯t have super intelligence powers, right?¡± Again, there was only silence. ¡°Alright.¡± Richard sighed and said softly, ¡°I¡¯ll ask you a very simple question then. You¡¯ll definitely know the answer. What is the ratio of a circle¡¯s circumference to its diameter? Simply put, what is the ratio of the length of a horse carriage wheel to the combined length of two of its spokes?¡± This was the simplest expression of the mathematical constant ¦Ð (pi). To Richard¡¯s knowledge, around 1900 BC, ancient Egyptians had already approximated pi to three decimal places of accuracy. Around 200 BC, Greek mathematician Archimedes created an approximation that was accurate to five decimal places. So long as the book spirit in front of him had knowledge in this area, it should be able to answer this question. Richard could also then estimate the mathematical development of this world and gain an understanding of the entire wizard magic system. After all, be it magic or science, so long as they were built based on a comprehensive system, mathematics would be involved no matter what. The book spirit spoke. This time it seemed less aggressive than before. Sounding weak, it said, ¡°3.¡± ¡°Can you be more precise?¡± Richard insisted, ¡°What is after the decimal point?¡± ¡°¡±3.1415926,¡± the book spirit replied like a robot. Upon hearing the book spirit¡¯s answer, which was accurate to seven decimal places, Richard could not resist arching his brows. This answer already reached the standards in Ancient China on Earth. In fact, it might even surpass that. If it were to go beyond that, the range of testing would have to be extended. After all, the accuracy of pi developed exponentially. In 480 BC, Ancient China¡¯s Zu Chongzhi approximated pi to seven decimal places of accuracy. This was not surpassed until 1000 years later. In the early 15th century, Arabic mathematician Al-Kashi calculated an approximation of pi that was accurate to 17 decimal places. In 1789, Slovenian mathematicians calculated pi to 137 decimal places of accuracy. In 1948, British mathematicians calculated pi to 808 decimal places of accuracy. In 1949, pi was approximated to 2,037 decimal places of accuracy. Following that, pi was calculated to a million decimal places in 1973, 480 million decimal places in 1989, and 5 trillion decimal places in 2010. At the thought of this, Richard continued to inquire the book spirit, ¡°If I define this value as pi, what is its 100,000th decimal digit?¡± The book spirit suddenly stopped responding. It was as if it had never appeared. Richard immediately realized that he had been too anxious. His eyes flickered and he uttered, ¡°Why? You haven¡¯t achieved this level of precision yet? What about the 10,000th? 1,000th? 100th?¡± ¡°Damn guy,¡± the book spirit spoke in a trembling voice and unstable tone, sounding like an overloaded machine. ¡°This damn question of yours is too difficult, too difficult. I¡¯ll tell you. The answer is- is- Aargh!¡± At last, the book spirit let out a miserable cry. The moving skull on the book page suddenly stiffened, and the flames in its eyes froze. Like a malfunctioned machine or a crashed computer, it was no longer making any noise. After some time, Richard tried touching the page where the book spirit had been at, only to discover that it was icy cold and no longer warm. ¡°This¡­ I have passed the test?¡± Richard muttered to himself. ¡°Were the calculations too much for it to handle, causing an irreparable error?¡± Richard looked through the page carefully, but did not find anything unique. It was just an ordinary piece of paper with the drawing of a skull. Obviously, the so-called book spirit had existed on the paper through a method that he currently had no knowledge of. Richard shook his head, and he did not waste time trying to figure out how the book spirit had come about. The next moment, he flipped to the next page. Dense, red words appeared on the second page. The first sentence seemed to be an introduction. ¡°Listen to me, remember me, and you shall witness a brand new world. ¡ªMonroe.¡± The second line had a slightly larger font. It was the title of the book, The Writings of Monroe. The third sentence was the real content. ¡°The world of wizards is mysterious and dangerous. To my reader, when you read this book, the doors of a brand new world will gradually open before your eyes.¡± Richard¡¯s eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath and continued reading seriously. He didn¡¯t sleep that night. Chapter 9 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios When the new day arrived, Richard had a general understanding of wizards and the entire magic system described in the book. According to its explanations, wizards were a group of people with mysterious powers, who could manipulate energy, matter and even life in nature through special means to bring about magical changes. Generally speaking, wizards didn¡¯t actively associate with ordinary people. They hid their identity very carefully. Most of the time, they would gather with their companions to explore ancient secrets and study more advanced spells. Of course, wizards could be categorized into different levels based on their capabilities, from low to high. There were Level 1 Wizards, Level 2 Wizards, Level 3 Wizards, up to the highest, Level 9 Wizards. In general, Level 1 Wizards had special abilities that ordinary people could not resist. They could easily destroy an entire elite army, kill the ruler of a kingdom, and leave easily, even among thousands of troops. Level 2 Wizards were even more powerful and could do things beyond the limits of ordinary people¡¯s imagination, such as turning a stone into a giant boulder with life. Another example would be turning a person into an inanimate stone statue. Level 3 Wizards were comparable to gods, with the ability to transform nature. When casting a spell, if they unleashed their full power, it could cause a natural disaster wherever it happened. This place could turn into a desert with a permanent drought, or suffer a deluge that completely flooded it. As for Level 4 Wizards, Level 5 Wizards, and Level 6 Wizards, their abilities were completely unimaginable. They could create large islands in the ocean, or transform the climate of an entire continent into one that they favored. As for Level 7 Wizards, it remained to be proved whether they existed or not. There were only vague and short descriptions in writings, passed down from ancient times. In short, the power of a wizard was beyond doubt. As long as one became a wizard, even the weakest wizard, one could disregard any ruler and flout the law. Of course, most people did not have the talent to become a wizard, and even if they did, many of them didn¡¯t reach beyond apprenticeship in wizardry. The Apprentice Wizard was equivalent to a pre-wizard, meaning that they were not officially considered wizards. Although they could cast some spells, they were certainly incomparable to a real wizard. Although their powers were equally feared by ordinary people, ordinary people also had many ways of killing them. The most important thing was that Apprentice Wizards were often unable to face an entire well-trained army. Therefore, they had to abide by the law to a certain extent and obey the ruler. In many cases, faced with harsh reality, Apprentice Wizards often had to depend on a certain nobleman and serve him for life. Becoming a real wizard was the wish every Apprentice Wizard had, but obviously, success was not easily achieved. It was already extremely difficult for someone to become an Apprentice Wizard, since not everyone had the talent. The probability of being talented was less than one in ten thousand. Only a talented person, a less than one in ten thousand chance, could achieve the three life reconstructions, completing the transition from a mortal to an apprentice wizard, and prepare to become a true wizard. The other 99.99% could only choose to be a mortal forever. The three life reconstructions were astral projection, creation of magic source, and energy smelting. It was very simple to test whether a person was talented or not, since it involved¡­ Bang! A scroll fell on the table. Richard picked it up, raised it, staring, and then let go. Bang! The scroll dropped and fell on the table a second time. His eyes flickered. Richard picked up the scroll again, stared at it, using his mental power to hold the scroll, and he let go. Bang! The scroll fell a third time. ¡°Huh.¡± Richard exhaled and closed his eyes. As he had not slept at all last night, he was slightly tired. Rubbing his temples, he muttered to himself, ¡°Sure, since there is a less than one in ten thousand chance, it¡¯s not so easy, otherwise it wouldn¡¯t be real at all. It seems that I can be sure that I have no talent, which makes sense and is in line with my expectations. ¡°Ignoring the possibility that the contents in the book are deceiving, after going to great lengths to solve the secrets of the wizard book, I still have to now face the reality of the wizardry world. This is kind of interesting.¡± He opened his eyes and looked out the window. The sun had just risen from the east, shining over every corner of the Earth. Richard¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly, and he said to himself, ¡°Well, I will have to see how impenetrable the door to the wizardry world is. I would like to know if I can break it open through scientific methods. ¡°What¡¯s the point if I just rely on that so-called talent to become a wizard? Only by relying entirely on science to become a wizard, and using science to analyze and apply the principles of the entire wizardry system, can it be really as interesting. ¡°Like this, at least I can figure out most of the truths this world has, and I can figure out how I came to this damn world. ¡°Transmigration? I have no need for such a ridiculous answer that is only seen in novels. I need a real answer that can be explained by science.¡± Richard stood up and stretched, facing the rising sun. The bright sunlight shone through the window, brightening the dust particles in the room. A large amount of dust that was as fine as sand turned golden, dancing in the light, floating up and down. It was a beautiful sight. Suddenly, the dust shook, as if an invisible giant fist had blasted into it. Pushed by a gush of air, the dust dispersed around rapidly. Bang, bang, bang! Someone was knocking on Richard¡¯s bedroom door, which was also connected to the study room. With a twist, Richard opened the door and saw Edward standing outside with a slightly nervous expression. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? What¡¯s the matter?¡± Richard asked aloud, knowing that his Chief Bodyguard normally didn¡¯t look like this. Edward said, ¡°Your Highness, the butler, Deron, is here, saying that he wants to see you.¡± ¡°Deron, the butler? He wants to see me?¡± Richard frowned slightly. Deron was a skinny old man in his sixties. He was the butler of the King of Blue Lion Kingdom and managed everything related to the palace. Although he was only a servant, his power surpassed that of many court officials and even small nobles. The prince wondered why he had made such a sudden visit, but he was now busy solving the puzzle of the three life reconstructions mentioned in the wizard book, he had no time to waste. ¡°Where is he now?¡± ¡°He is waiting at the hall.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll meet him.¡± Richard walked to the door. ¡°Let¡¯s see what¡¯s going on first.¡± Chapter 10 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Richard walked down to the hall on the first floor. He saw a thin old man in blue clothes standing in the distance, looking with curiosity at the servants who were operating various complicated instruments on the surrounding tables. The servants knew that the old man held a lot of power. Therefore, they lowered their heads and concentrated on their work, not daring to utter a word lest they invited trouble for themselves. Tap, tap, tap. Richard moved closer. The old man turned his head upon hearing the sound. When he saw that it was Richard, he hurriedly bowed and saluted, ¡°Your Highness Prince Richard.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Richard nodded and asked directly, ¡°What¡¯s the matter, Butler Deron? What does my respected father, King Donners, want?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± the old man said, his voice slightly hoarse and hesitant. ¡°Actually, Your Highness, I did not come following His Majesty¡¯s orders.¡± ¡°It seems that I have the right to refuse then,¡± Richard said lightly. The old man¡¯s expression tensed, and he quickly said, ¡°Of course, Your Highness, you are the prince, second in line to the throne. Apart from His Majesty¡¯s orders, you naturally have the right to refuse. It¡¯s just¡­¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Richard asked. ¡°I will explain¡­¡± The old man sighed and said slowly, ¡°Your Highness, His Majesty has been ill for a long time and has not improved. So His Highness, the eldest prince, said that he wanted to cut down on daily expenses, in order to find a better doctor to treat His Majesty. ¡°Although His Highness merely made a suggestion, he has indeed started working on it. From today, his palace has reduced the expenses by one-third. In that case, if Your Highness does not do so as well, it might make His Highness, the eldest prince, look bad. This is for His Majesty¡¯s sake, and His Majesty¡ª¡± ¡°Cut the costs to treat the king? So I see Blue Lion Kingdom is already this poor,¡± Richard said, his voice slightly cold. ¡°Well¡­¡± The old man trembled, and he broke out in a cold sweat. ¡°Naturally, this is not the case. His Highness may just want to express his filial piety.¡± ¡°Butler Deron, needless to say,¡± Richard¡¯s cold voice sounded, ¡°I know the thoughts and intentions of my dear brother, William Austin. It¡¯s just that¡­ we are two different people. He can just go ahead with what he wants if he feels like expressing his filial piety by reducing the expenses. ¡°Butler Deron, I know you came over to tell me about this with good intentions. However, I can¡¯t reduce the expenses of my palace for the time being. You can also see that the main hall is full of people, and they are all useful to me. I need them to prepare and extract all kinds of chemical materials for me. If I had to do it myself, I would end up exhausted after just one experiment. ¡°So I will keep it as it is, the expenses will remain the same. In contrast, my dear brother will be able to show his filial piety better. As for whether it makes my dear brother look good, and what the rest as well as my respected father King Donners think, it is up to them.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± The old man looked at Richard. He wanted to speak but hesitated. Richard made a gesture to dismiss him. The old man had no choice but to salute again and leave the palace. He was walking on the square outside the palace, troubled, when he muttered to himself, ¡°Your Highness, in fact, you don¡¯t necessarily need to cut costs by one-third like the eldest prince. It¡¯s good enough even if you reduce expenses by one-tenth, or one-twentieth. But if you don¡¯t even bother to do this¡­¡± The old man disappeared from the square. In the palace, Edward approached Richard and tried to persuade him. ¡°Your Highness, I think we could actually slightly reduce our expenses. We still have surplus funds in the palace, and the money from the few shops you opened in the city hasn¡¯t even been used for the palace. It¡¯s a waste to leave it untouched. Why don¡¯t we¡ª¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bring this up anymore.¡± Richard waved his hand to stop Edward from continuing. ¡°I have other purposes for the shops¡¯ profits. Also, we have to set aside part of the palace¡¯s funds for emergency purposes. So, we don¡¯t have a surplus that allows us to cut costs and make the eldest prince look good. I won¡¯t reduce our expenses by a single coin.¡± ¡°Uh.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to the laboratory to do some research now. You can keep guarding the palace. Don¡¯t disturb me unless there is something urgent,¡± Richard said, walking to his private laboratory on the side. Edward quickly reminded him, ¡°Your Highness, you haven¡¯t eaten your breakfast!¡± ¡°No need. I¡¯ll eat after I have made some progress on my research.¡± ¡°But you didn¡¯t have dinner yesterday. Today¡ª¡± Edward had yet to finish speaking, but Richard had already walked into his private laboratory and slammed the door. Edward swallowed the rest of the words helplessly and sighed. ¡°Oh, Your Highness, as your Chief Bodyguard, you make things difficult for me.¡± ¡­ Richard entered his private laboratory and found that it had been cleaned. The python¡¯s corpse had been placed in the middle of the table, and the blood stains on the ground from yesterday¡¯s dissection had been cleaned up. The air still carried a faint smell of disinfectant and alcohol. It seemed to have been done strictly in accordance with the cleaning regulations he had set. With a slight nod, Richard walked to a wooden shelf and took out many bottles, canisters and rubber hoses. He began to connect them and finally formed a set of extremely complicated apparatuses. He put some white plant powder into the first jar, and he then started the heating reaction. Richard was attempting to create an anesthetic derived from plant alkaloid, since he would have to use a scientific method to achieve the three life reconstructions described in the wizard book. According to The Writings of Monroe, people with magic talents were born with strong spiritual power. They could wield this power over certain light-weighted objects, intentionally or unintentionally, such as preventing the fall of a paper scroll. Only such a person could automatically enter a special out-of-body state to connect with the vast universe, absorb its energy while astral projecting, and complete the first life reconstruction. After that, the apprentice had to use his spiritual powers to keep the body in a highly activated state. The spiritual power connected with the body until it reached a highly solidified state, constructing a special container called the ¡°magic source¡± to store this energy for later use. This was the second life reconstruction. Finally, one had to use these spiritual powers to reach a high-energy state, smelting the energy stored in the magic source and turning it into real magical powers, which could then be used to cast real spells and to complete the third life reconstruction. Simply put, the three life reconstructions were the three steps that a person needed to follow before casting a spell. After completing these three steps, one could then start casting spells. As for how to cast an actual spell, it was another matter. Yet if one could not complete these three steps, casting spells was an impossible goal. Chapter 11 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Obviously, obtaining magic was extremely cumbersome. It was not as simple as in the novels, where they only needed to close their eyes and sit cross-legged, absorbing the energy from the heavens and earth into the body, and releasing it when needed. Even if Richard followed the instructions in The Writings of Monroe, as well as his own speculations, there were a lot of uncertainties around magic. For example, what was that ¡°out-of-body state¡± during the first life reconstruction? What was the ¡°highly activated state¡± of the second life reconstruction? And what was the ¡°high-energy state¡± of the third life reconstruction? In this regard, Richard could only make guesses, explore and conduct tests. According to some explanations in the book, the out-of-body state of the first life reconstruction was a mysterious state that allowed the spirit to temporarily leave the body and use the spirit to sense the outside world. It felt somewhat like a dream, however the person still had a clear sense of himself. Richard¡¯s understanding of this was that this out-of-body state was similar to meditation, which was called ¡°mantra¡± in Sanskrit. In Sanskrit, the word ¡°mantra¡± could be divided into two parts, namely ¡°man¡± and ¡°tra¡±¡ª¡±man¡± meant ¡°mind,¡± and ¡°tra¡± meant ¡°to lead away.¡± Therefore, mantra meant to draw the human mind away from all kinds of worldly thoughts, worries, desires, spiritual burdens, etc. However, this out-of-body state was not exactly the same as mantra meditation, it was deeper. On the basis of maintaining a relaxed consciousness, it was more out of the body and deeper into the spirit, similar to the ultimate state of meditation¡ªZen meditation. In other words, it was like suffering sleep paralysis during a nightmare. This happened when, after suddenly waking up, the brain regained consciousness, but the brain¡¯s motor functions were still in a deep sleep state, causing a phenomenon in which the mind could not control the body. The person could think and recollect, but they could not move their limbs, filling them with panic. Or this could also be that lucid dream that many people pursued. In these cases, the consciousness was half asleep and half awake, the person clearly knowing that he is dreaming and can control what happens in any kind of dreams. They could create and destroy like a god, and realize the fantasies that would be impossible in reality. Simply put, this out-of-body state was very deep mantra meditation, and it was not easily achievable. Even a true yoga master could not guarantee full immersion in meditation at any time. The sleep paralysis and lucid dreams were even more difficult to attain. Even if sleep was deliberately adjusted, the success rate was less than one-tenth. This was completely unacceptable to Richard. Looking at it from a scientific view, a 100% success rate was the only way to prove that something was feasible. To ensure that there was a 100% success rate of achieving the extremely complex out-of-body state, Richard could only think of relying on drugs. It was true that the use of drugs could have side effects on the body, but drugs might be the most convenient and fastest method. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible to stay conscious while the body fell asleep. However, it could be done with special drugs, like alkaloids with anesthetic effects. Many plants contained alkaloid components, such as Solanaceae, Leguminosae, Ranunculaceae, Papaveraceae, and other dicotyledonous plants. These plant¡¯s raw materials could be modified with his equipment, and after going through a series of chemical reactions to remove impurities, alkaloids derived from high purity anesthetic could be obtained. With that in mind, Richard started to work. The complex instruments didn¡¯t stop working. Their purpose was to distill, condense, filter, precipitate, dissolve, crystallize. Puff, puff. A large puff of white steam rose. Bang, bang. The lids of the beakers kept rattling. Drip, drip. Yellow liquid dripped from the ox horn tube. Puff, puff. Bubbles formed in the beaker. ¡­ After working on this for most of the day, the entire experiment had reached the final stage. As the temperature of the liquid in the beaker gradually cooled, pieces of crystals were formed. They had a turbid yellow color, and the interior seemed to be filled with dust. Richard took a look and shook his head, knowing that this first attempt had failed. The reason was simple¡ªthere were impurities. There was nothing wrong with the way he had carried the experiment, he had even removed various impurities for it. However, there were more than 20 steps in the entire experiment. Due to the equipment limitations of this world, each procedure caused at least one small error. It was still acceptable to make one or two errors, however, 10 and even 20 errors were fatal. The accumulation of quantitative changes caused qualitative changes, and this had completely contaminated the final crystals, which should be pure. Thus they could not be used. It was a failure. Richard shook his head again, but did not show any annoyance. Since he had been in this world for 15 years, he understood how it worked. No matter how angry he was, it was useless; no matter how strictly he asked the craftsmen, there would always be errors in the instruments they made for him. To solve this problem, he needed to get rid of the impurities and to improve its purity. If he wanted to get rid of impurities and improve the purity, he would need a suitable solvent, or extractant, preferably an organic extractant. However, obtaining organic extractants was easier said than done. Many organic extractants required high temperatures and high pressure conditions. Should he then think of ways to build reactors and distillation towers? The only easy organic extractant might be ether. Well, wait a minute. Ether. Richard suddenly narrowed his eyes and thought of something. Ether! Yes, ether! Ether could be used as a medicine extractant solvent, but if he really got ether, there was no need for extraction. Ether itself was an anesthetic better than alkaloids. Yes, ether was an anesthetic! Ether was a liquid anesthetic, and it was the kind that ordinary people knew best. Even if a person had never seen it in real life, it often appeared in movies¡ªin the scene where bad guys used a soaked handkerchief to cover the victim¡¯s mouth and nose. The victim would inhale this nervously, intaking the volatile liquid into the body, and fall unconscious. In such scenes, the product on the handkerchief was ether, a colorless and transparent liquid. It was very volatile and had a very fast anesthetic effect. However, the technical process to obtain ether was somewhat difficult since aluminum oxide was needed as a catalyst. Aluminum oxide or metallic aluminum was ten times more scarce than gold and gems in this current medieval world. But it was much simpler to produce in a laboratory. He only needed two raw materials to produce ether in a laboratory, namely sulfuric acid and ethanol. Sulfuric acid was easy to obtain, and as for ethanol¡­ What was ethanol? Ethanol was the scientific name for alcohol, so it was easily found in abundance. Using alcohol to produce ether was the kind of basic information found in high school chemistry textbooks. He seemed to have overcomplicated the matter. Richard was talking to himself as he slowly stood up and his eyes fell on the equipment on the table. He took a closer step and quickly disassembled the apparatuses. He then used the large test tube, a catheter, a wooden cork, a flask, an iron stand, an iron ring, a separatory funnel, etc. to assemble another set. After this was completed, Richard did a simple check to ensure it was air tight and began to fill it with drugs. He poured absolute ethanol into the flask, followed by concentrated sulfuric acid, and plugged it with a wooden cork. He then heated the solution and waited for it to cool down. Chapter 12 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Finally, Richard obtained around 5 ml of ether, which was merely 1% of the volume of a water bottle in modern times on Earth. However to Richard, this was already sufficient. After sealing the bottle of ether with a wooden cork to prevent it from evaporating, he wrapped it with a dark sackcloth so that it would not oxidize under strong sunlight. Nodding satisfactorily, Richard took the bottle and walked out of his private laboratory. As he entered the palace¡¯s main hall, the sun shone through the windows. Richard looked up and found that the sun was already in the west. This meant that, unknowingly, he had already been in the laboratory for an entire day. However he did not feel hungry at all. On the contrary, he felt very energized and excited. He could not wait to return to his bedroom and test the effect of the ether he had developed earlier. He wanted to know if it could decipher that first life reconstruction, find out if the power of science could overcome the problems of magic. He was very much looking forward to that. Just as Richard was pondering over this and ascending the stairs, he heard a voice. ¡°Your Highness, Your Highness!¡± Richard raised his eyebrows. He already knew who it was without guessing. He turned around. Indeed, he saw Edward running and stopping near him. Panting, Edward said, ¡°Your Highness, that¡­ Have you finished your experiment?¡± ¡°Yes, I am done for now,¡± Richard replied. He added, ¡°Did anything happen in the palace during this time?¡± ¡°No, no,¡± Edward said, shaking his head. ¡°Good.¡± Richard nodded. He was about to turn around and continue his way up the stairs when he added, ¡°I have something important to attend to. Keep guarding the palace. Unless it¡¯s on fire, don¡¯t disturb me regardless of what happens.¡± ¡°This¡­ What about dinner?¡± ¡°You can have it yourself.¡± ¡°Your Highness!¡± Edward exclaimed anxiously. ¡°You have not eaten anything since yesterday. You will get sick if this goes on.¡± ¡°I know my health best. It¡¯s no problem not to eat for a short period of time, I will take my breakfast tomorrow. You don¡¯t have to worry.¡± By the time he finished speaking, Richard had already reached the second floor and disappeared from Edward¡¯s sight. Edward had a complicated expression. At last, he could not help bemoaning, ¡°Your Highness, if you continue to be like this, I don¡¯t know if I can carry out my duty as Chief Bodyguard anymore.¡± ¡­ After returning to his bedroom and study, Richard did not hurry to try it out. He read The Writings of Monroe seriously, and he carefully deliberated the part about astral projection to confirm that he had fully understood it before making a decision. The sky had darkened. Richard sat cross-legged on the velvet bed in his bedroom. He took out the glass bottle containing ether, removed the cork, placed it near his nose, and inhaled deeply. As the air traveled into his lungs, Richard could clearly sense the changes in his body. After inhaling a certain amount, Richard sealed the bottle quickly and placed it on the table beside him. Next, he sat on the bed without moving to let the ether take effect in his body. In slightly more than 10 seconds, Richard started feeling dizzy, and his body began to feel heavy. Soon after, his body felt as if it had been loaded with lead. One minute later, he was immobilized but still very conscious. Recalling the instructions in The Writings of Monroe, Richard tried to picture that his consciousness was weightless, not subject to gravitational forces, that it could come to the surface like a fish and fly in the sky like a bird. Suddenly, Richard could sense his entire body begin to shake. His muscles were not shivering because of the cold, but because something seemed to be struggling and trying to free itself from his body. He continued using his mind to manage the situation. He attempted to control his consciousness and make it drift out of his body. Buzz, buzz. Richard¡¯s heavy body started shaking even more. He had the feeling of being in a horse carriage that was galloping swiftly on a dirt road, and not of being on the soft, velvet bed. An unknown and uncontrollable thing was about to jump out of his body. Buzz, buzz, buzz. He did not know if it was an illusion. Gradually, Richard felt the entire bed shaking, followed by the floor and the house. It was like an earthquake. However, Richard was well aware that Blue Lion City was situated on a plain, it never had earthquakes. The chances of him experiencing an earthquake were close to zero. Most probably, his body was undergoing some special transformation due to the astral projection. Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz. As the vibrations intensified, Richard sensed his body being pulled by a certain kind of brutal force. Following this, he was stunned to notice countless threads in his body, each one pierced through his chest and back. They were very hot and vibrated repeatedly, as if they wanted to slice his body into pieces. The pain was unbearable. Could these threads be the planet¡¯s magnetic induction lines formed by thoughts? The idea suddenly came to his mind. He faced South when sitting on the bed. If this world was the same as the Earth, the North Magnetic Pole was behind him, and the South Magnetic Pole was thus in front of him¡ªsince the North Magnetic Pole was directly opposite the South Magnetic Pole. If this was the case, the Earth¡¯s magnetic field, beginning at the North Magnetic Pole, consistently spread through the ground, passing through his body before arriving at the South Magnetic Pole. Well. At the thought of this, Richard heard a loud snap, something seemingly broken. His entire body suddenly drifted into the air. Richard¡¯s eyes opened, and he could see. It wasn¡¯t the eyes on his body that opened, it was the eyes of his consciousness, that had drifted out of his body. The consciousness saw things differently from his physical form, but Richard discovered quickly that his consciousness was drifting above his body in the form of a ball of white mist. Well, yes, he was drifting above his body. This was a very strange and mysterious experience. He could clearly tell that he was sitting on the bed and could not move, but his consciousness existed in another form. ¡°Interesting,¡± Richard muttered to himself, and soon started guessing. ¡°Is this my soul? Plasma? Or quantum?¡± As he had too little information, Richard could still not find any scientific explanation to his current situation after a long time thinking. He could merely continue using his consciousness eyes to observe his surroundings. Following this, Richard discovered that some sort of transparent tape grew out of the neck of his consciousness and was connected to his physical body. Richard tried to distance himself from his body, and the transparent tape behind him automatically lengthened. Regardless of the distance, it seemed to stretch unlimitedly without restrictions. Richard tried moving to his study and then returning to his body. The transparent tape at the back of his neck immediately ¡°teleported¡± his consciousness back to his physical body. In order to shorten the distance, the consciousness had even traversed through the wall directly. Richard then realized that his consciousness could disregard physical bodies and pass through walls and obstructions effortlessly. Chapter 13 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios If that was the case¡­ Richard used his mind to control his consciousness, making it drift down the bed and then towards the door. It effortlessly passed through the wooden door and appeared at the corridor outside. Dragging the long and transparent tape behind him, Richard turned around, drifted along the wooden stairs, and headed to the main hall on the first floor. Soon after, the main hall appeared before him. Although it was already night time, the main hall had many candles and oil lamps and was thus very brightly lit, ensuring the activity in the palace didn¡¯t stop. At that very moment, many servants were working on their respective duties. They were preparing different experiment materials according to his specific requirements, like hydrochloric acid, alcohol or deionized water. At the entrance of the palace, a few bodyguards were standing upright and guarding the place alertly. In comparison, as the Chief Bodyguard, Edward seemed to be slacking. He was leaning against a wall and reading a palm-sized book. He was very careful, so from time to time, he would look up and sweep his glance across their surroundings. Afterward, he would lower his head again and read. Richard controlled his consciousness to approach Edward, the latter remaining totally oblivious. The prince checked the palm-sized book in his hands, and written on it were words considered improper in this world: Countess Elizabeth. ¡°Oh, of course he¡¯s been reading such books.¡± Richard shook his head boringly after taking a few glances at it. He was not interested in reading this with Edward. He turned around and drifted towards a servant who was busy working. She was a young lady around 18 years old, and her name was Angie. She was fairly good-looking, but there were many freckles on her face. Putting aside her looks, Angie was the smartest servant in the entire palace. Basically, she could pick up everything that he taught immediately. Sometimes, Richard had thought of training her to be his assistant, so that she could also manage the other servants. However, he had not done that yet for various reasons. In that instant, she was conscientiously preparing a sodium hydroxide standard solution, a task assigned to her earlier. The first step she followed was using the scale to weigh solid sodium hydroxide. As Richard had reminded her before, she cleverly did not place the sodium hydroxide on papyrus before weighing it, since sodium hydroxide was deliquescent and would corrode the paper. She put the sodium hydroxide into a beaker and weighed them together. Afterward, she deducted the weight of the beaker to get the actual weight of the sodium hydroxide. Then came the second step. And the third. Watching Angie carry out her task methodically without any mistakes, Richard nodded satisfactorily. He suddenly thought of something and reached to her table. As expected, his hands went through the table¡¯s surface. Richard frowned and focused on his spiritual power. After sensing that both of his consciousness ¡°hands¡± were materializing, he gently touched the beaker on the table. The beaker swayed, and it almost dropped down and broke. Angie, who was busy working, had a fright. She hurriedly reached out to hold the beaker. She frowned slightly and glanced at the palace entrance puzzledly. After realizing there was no wind, she muttered to herself, ¡°What happened?¡± Richard could not reply to her, but he had discovered through this test what he could do in this state. He could affect the real world with his consciousness, but it was hard and the effect was minimal. He frowned and pondered for a moment. An idea flashed into his mind. The tension on his neck increased, and he flew to his bedroom at lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, he passed through the second floor and many walls until he, at last, returned to his bed. ¡­ Richard¡¯s body was still sitting cross-legged on the soft velvet bed, completely unmoving. His chest was heaving up and down slowly, maintaining a normal breathing. Richard¡¯s consciousness stopped beside his body. It then drifted down the bed and to the nearest wall. He focused all of his spiritual power and carefully drew something on the wall using his consciousness ¡°fingernails.¡± Nodding at the drawing, Richard suddenly remembered his objective¡ªtesting the astral projection. The separation of consciousness and body was obviously one of the functions of astral projection, but it was not the main one. According to The Writings of Monroe, astral projection was named as such because¡­ Richard looked up to his right. The next moment, he controlled his mind to rise rapidly, moving through the roof and eventually into open air. Outside the sky was already dark, as though the entire world was being covered by a large tent. Around him everything was quiet. There was no sound, not even wind. It seemed like time had stopped. However, Richard was aware that this was an illusion. He was not worried by the silence. Instead, he maneuvered his consciousness to drift upwards until he was at a height of around 100 meters from the ground. Looking down from the sky, he could see the entirety of Blue Lion City. He could see that this medieval world was not as prosperous as the Earth in modern times. As lamp-making materials were expensive, besides the palace, most parts of Blue Lion City were dark at night. He could randomly see a few brightly lit places, but those were mansions belonging to the aristocrats. Richard watched silently. The entirety of Blue Lion City was beneath him, and it was an amazing feeling. ¡°Is this the power of a wizard?¡± Flap, flap. A black bird came flying towards him from afar. It resembled a crow but was bigger in size. Richard could tell that it was a raven. When the raven flew past him quickly, it seemed to sense something and turned its neck warily to look around. However, the animal flapped its wings and flew away after not discovering anything. Following that, a brief and weak cry was heard. Well? Richard turned his gaze, only to discover that the raven had disappeared. In the distance, a vague and enormous figure, like a powerful predator, swept across the sky. Was that an extremely large falcon? Richard was making a guess, but he did not bother with it. He averted his gaze, calmed down and then looked above him. He saw the dome-shaped night sky illuminated with dense countless spots. Those were not stars but energy transmitted in the form of starlight. It was the famous astral projection. Astral projection. Richard spread out his arms and attempted to absorb the energy, according to the instructions in The Writings of Monroe. The next moment, sunlight seemed to be shining on him, and his entire consciousness warmed up. A large amount of energy flowed into him consistently and quickly, spreading into his sitting body through the transparent tape behind his neck. However, none of the energy that entered his body stayed. It slipped away from his body rapidly without stopping. Although energy kept gushing into his body, it was never retained since his body lacked a special structure that could store energy¡ªa magic source. The first life construction meant to separate consciousness and body, which involved astral projection and strengthening one¡¯s spiritual power. The second life construction was to store the energy of the universe. The third life construction was to convert the stored energy into powers and then perform magic. As Richard recalled The Writings of Monroe, he relaxed his consciousness to absorb the energy in the dark sky. At that moment he felt like he was soaking in a warm spring. His spiritual power was becoming increasingly stronger, though he could not capture any energy. Just like that, a consciousness was floating above Blue Lion City in the darkness. Like a king, Richard thoroughly enjoyed immersing himself in the overwhelming energy of the astral projection until¡­ Chapter 14 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios The next morning. The sun had just risen in the sky. The air was still cold and had not warmed up yet. The streets of Blue Lion City were slowly filled with people¡ªbusinessmen checking out prices in the market, craftsmen looking for temporary jobs, hunters selling animal skin, and stablemen looking for customers. Everyone was hurriedly pacing on the green-stoned pavement. On the second floor of a building along the street, one by one, the windows were gradually opened. Due to incomplete drainage systems, buckets of domestic sewage were splashed on the streets, drenching any passerbys if they were unlucky and careless. There were scoldings, clamor and hubbub. The atmosphere eventually livened up as Blue Lion City stretched itself like a waking giant. And the palace of Blue Lion City was the heart of the giant. In comparison to other places in Blue Lion City, it was quieter and more organized. The servants were conscientiously cleaning the floor, the gardener was carefully trimming the plants, and the guards were guarding various locations warily. On the left side of this heart¡ªthe east wing of the palace¡ªbreakfast was taking place in the dining room. Richard sat alone at the end of a dining table, which was four meters long and one meter wide. Around him were servants who were standing, prepared to serve him. He looked like a lonely seaman drifting on the ocean by himself. Richard did not utter a word. After all, 15 years had passed, and he was already used to life in this world. He also could not waste time on such trivialities. Therefore, holding his fork and knife, he quietly carried on with the medieval breakfast with a calm expression. The main course of the meal was white bread. As the name indicated, the bread was white and had been baked with rigorously sifted wheatmeal. However, it wasn¡¯t tasty because the bread had not been fermented thoroughly. It was rather common in this world to bake the dough merely after short fermentation. As a result, the bread was not as soft and fluffy as those from modern Earth. It was quite hard and tasted like unleavened bread, which was also very bad for the teeth. In fact, Richard was able to have this kind of bread because he was a prince. Commoners could only eat black bread, which tasted worse. That so-called black bread was baked with the same ingredient, wheatmeal, but unsifted because they wanted to save on it. Thus it was still full of wheat bran, which made it extremely coarse. Some evil bakers even deliberately added sawdust and stones to the bread to increase its mass. Furthermore, they used less water in order to increase the bread¡¯s shelf life. As a result, the bread was extremely hard when freshly baked and would only become increasingly harder as time passed. Black bread was usually still edible the first two days after baking, but more than that meant that the bread only be cut with a knife. A week later, it would become as hard as a stone and could already be used as a weapon. There were countless records of such incidents in the Middle Ages¡ªwhen foolish thieves stole in poor villages and were exposed, furious farmers and their wives took the black bread and beat the thieves to death. Of course, there was high-end bread as well. For example, the famous queen¡¯s bread was baked with processed flour, egg, milk and wild honey. It was completely fermented with brewer¡¯s yeast instead of ordinary yeast, and then baked at carefully controlled temperatures. It was only produced in small loaves, but the taste was comparable to or even better than that high-quality butter bread from modern Earth. However, these things were considered luxury goods more costly than gold. Even the most extravagant kings and aristocrats wouldn¡¯t dare eat then frequently. This bread was usually gifted as a special reward during banquets to people who had made significant contributions. It functioned like a medal, and the emotional satisfaction derived from it was greater than the physical one. In normal circumstances, regardless of one¡¯s social standing, dry and hard white bread was the staple food during the Middle Ages. Richard held his knife and fork as he sliced a piece of the white bread and put it into his mouth. He chewed hard and then swallowed it, looking nonchalant. He was long used to this. Just as Richard swallowed the white bread, he heard footsteps approaching the dining table. A servant carefully placed a plate in front of Richard. On the plate was a baked, well-done pork chop, which was one of the main courses for breakfast. However it did not look very appetizing, since the fire had not been well handled and some parts of the meat were already charred. Richard waved his cutlery, gently cut a piece of meat from the pork chop, and put it into his mouth. He chewed for a long time as a strange taste appeared. Because biology hadn¡¯t yet been developed in the Middle Ages, most people did not know that male animals had to be castrated before consumption. Hence the meat quality was poor, and the taste was strange. He had a hard time eating the pork chop. Following this, Richard quickly reached for the cup of water beside his right hand and drank from it. The cup contained his breakfast beverage. The most common breakfast beverage in this world was not water, but low-alcohol drinks. This was not because people were addicted to alcohol, but for hygiene purposes. Yes, hygiene. People in Western countries had never had the habit of boiling water for consumption. Yet unclean water had many germs, and they could contract gastrointestinal diseases if they were to consume it. In a world like this, that lacked antibiotics, there was a high chance that gastrointestinal infections led to death from dehydration. In comparison, low-alcohol drinks were cleaner than water, and many people drank ale like water. Ale was different from beer because hop wasn¡¯t added, so it had no alcoholic taste and it could ferment very easily. To mask its strange and sour taste, the brewer would often add some weird ingredients, which caused similar effects to taking drugs. Nevertheless, a lot of people didn¡¯t care about this. They drank ale of various flavors generously. But Richard could not tolerate it, hence his cup contained water¡ªplain water¡ªthat had been boiled and was appropriate for consumption. He reached out for his cup again and took a few sips to rinse away the strange taste in his mouth. He then continued to eat the bread slices. Just as he tried his very best to swallow a piece of white bread, Edward suddenly rushed in. ¡°Your Highness, Butler Deron is here.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t he come yesterday? Why is he here again?¡± Richard looked up and said. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Edward shook his head. ¡°He didn¡¯t tell me anything. He just said he is looking for you.¡± Clang, clang. Richard gently put down the cutlery in his hands. He pondered for a moment and said, ¡°Please bring him in.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± replied Edward, and he walked out quickly. Very soon, he led the skinny Butler Deron into the dining room. Chapter 15 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Upon seeing Butler Deron, Richard raised his hand and gestured for him to sit down across the table. ¡°Butler Deron, would you like to join me?¡± ¡°No need, Your Highness, thank you for your kindness,¡± the skinny Butler Deron hurriedly said. After being rejected, Richard stopped the polite exchange and asked calmly, ¡°Butler Deron, what is the reason for coming here this time?¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Butler Deron hesitated for a few seconds and replied, ¡°Your Highness, today His Elder Highness brought a doctor to check on the king, who is ill.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes flashed and, knowing that the other party still had something to say, prompted him to continue, ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°So this is what I have in mind. Perhaps Your Highness should pay His Majesty a visit as well? After all, this is a special moment. The king is sick and needs someone to show care and concern for him. Also¡­¡± The skinny Butler Deron lowered his voice and said with a slight tinge of sorrow, ¡°Nearly 15 years ago, Queen Sophia went through a difficult labor for you, Your Highness. During her last moments, she asked me to try my best to remind Your Highness to maintain a good relationship with the king. Now¡ª¡± ¡°So now you¡¯re going to persuade me to learn from my dear brother, William Austin?¡± Richard asked. ¡°After all¡­¡± Butler Deron hesitated. ¡°I know you are doing this in my best interest, Butler Deron,¡± Richard said, putting his hands together on the table. ¡°But I saw my sick and respected father, King Donners, a week ago. I suppose, even if I visit him and care for him, it would not be of any help to his condition. So it is better not to go and let him rest.¡± Butler Deron was slightly taken aback, startled at Richard¡¯s words. Richard¡¯s words seemed to suggest something ominous. Butler Deron knew that Richard often had weird but accurate insights and could not help but ask, ¡°Could it be that His Majesty¡­¡± A sallow face quickly appeared in Richard¡¯s mind, his eyes flashed, and Richard looked at Butler Deron without answering. Butler Deron¡¯s heart instantly chilled. Sometimes silence meant the worst. ¡°Then-¡± Butler Deron¡¯s voice trembled. ¡°Then will His Majesty still live to see the fallen leaves this autumn, Your Highness?¡± Richard still did not answer. Butler Deron finally understood, lowering his head. He looked up again for a moment, stood up and walked out. He looked old and haggard from behind. When he arrived at the door, Butler Deron halted and turned to look at Richard. ¡°Actually, if His Majesty¡¯s condition is really so bad, Your Highness should go see him. Although a few years ago His Majesty punished Your Highness since he believed what was being said about you, His Majesty is still your father after all, isn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°Of course, His Majesty is my respected father,¡± Richard answered with a smile. Butler Deron sighed and said nothing else. He finally walked out and disappeared from sight. Richard picked up his knife and fork and continued to eat his breakfast. He ate about three slices of bread, half a grilled bird, a salmon, and drank two glasses of water for his meal. After breakfast, Richard wiped his mouth with a napkin, stood up, and walked to the main hall, which was just outside the dining room. Edward followed behind and asked, ¡°Your Highness, are you going to visit His Majesty? Butler Deron said¡ª¡± ¡°Put that matter aside first. Let¡¯s talk about it when I have time.¡± ¡°Your Highness, right now, you¡ª¡± ¡°I have a very important research experiment to do,¡± Richard said. ¡°Um.¡± Edward said nothing else. Richard ignored Edward and walked towards the busy servants in the hall. He pointed at two of them. ¡°You two, follow me to the laboratory.¡± With that, Richard moved to his private laboratory, and the two servants stood up nervously. One of them was Angie, the smartest girl among the servants, who also had freckles, and the other was Luna, a slightly plump girl. Although she was not as good as Angie, she was still much smarter than the other servants. Both of them were a little confused. They looked at each other and had no idea what Richard was going to do. However, they walked into his private laboratory obediently. Richard was already waiting inside. The two servants entered, and he said directly, ¡°Today I am going to do some very tedious work, so I need the two of you to assist me, do you understand?¡± ¡°Understood.¡± The girls nodded quickly. Richard had a satisfied look on his face. His main reason for calling the two servants had been to grasp a clear understanding of the second life reconstruction. Last night, he had used anesthetics during the first life reconstruction to succeed. He could now intake the energy from the astral projection without any issues. He had solved one out of three problems, and he had completed one-third of the steps to follow before he could perform magic. But if he wanted to truly perform magic, he had to solve the problem of the second life reconstruction¡ªbuild a magic source. According to The Writings of Monroe, the magic source was a very special container that existed within the body and was responsible for bearing the energy absorbed from the astral projection. The size and shape of the magic source could change according to each individual¡¯s preference. If one was willing and did not find it too troublesome, he could construct a magic source with 365 sides. However, considering matters such as simplicity and stability, many Apprentice Wizards chose to construct cocoon-shaped magic sources. In addition, there could be more than one magic source. Since it was built through spiritual powers, as long as one wanted to, one could create multiple magic sources within the body. However, magic sources were highly reactive to energy. When constructing it in the body, it was important to avoid some important organs, such as the brain, heart and more in order not to affect their functions. Furthermore, this magic source was a source of energy and was vital to every wizard. If damaged, it could cause large injuries to the body. Many wizards often preferred to destroy their opponent¡¯s exposed magic source to end the battle easily. Hence, every wizard had to carefully hide and protect his magic source. Before having built up enough power and strength, it was useless to blindly create new magic sources. This was simply a waste of time and energy, and it also increased the chance of exposing the magic sources to the enemy. This was no different from suicide. Of course, these were not the most important factors for the second life reconstruction. The most crucial element was the conditions for constructing the magic source. According to the instructions in The Writings of Monroe, besides astral projection, he needed to awaken the body with the consciousness and put it in a highly activated state for the second life reconstruction. In fact, bodies were always at a certain degree of activation. Yet under normal circumstances, it could not reach the level required to build a magic source. It was necessary to use one¡¯s inner talent to reach a ¡°supernormal performance¡± and get to that state. After successfully achieving the highly activated state, it was officially possible to build a magic source with spiritual power. Richard was very puzzled by the ¡°highly activated state¡± mentioned in the writings. What was it about? Chapter 16 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios After some serious thinking, Richard realized that this highly activated state was probably something like a powered state. In a normal human body, the metabolism and nerve signal transmission of cells were accompanied by the flow of potassium and sodium ions on the cell membrane to generate bioelectricity. This bioelectricity was very weak, and the voltage was usually of the millivolt level (mV stands for millivolt, and one volt is equivalent to 1000 millivolts). Although weak, bioelectricity was of great significance to humans. Its changes could directly lead to changes in cell metabolism, or other functions in the body. For example, when nerve fibers were locally stimulated, the excitability at the cathode would increase and the membrane potential would decrease (depolarization), while the excitability at the anode would decrease and the membrane potential would increase (hyperpolarization). According to the instructions for building a magic source in The Writings of Monroe, the body structure had to undergo some transformation which needed spiritual power. This was most likely related to bioelectricity. Perhaps the purpose was to increase the biological current in the human body to a certain extent, so that the body could create a new organ, the magic source, with the help of the spiritual power. Of course, this was just his conjecture. It remained to be verified whether he was right. The main reason why Richard needed the two servants was to try to create a battery that could discharge currents for testing. In this medieval era, electricity was still a foreign subject. First of all, Richard was going to create the simplest fruit battery. The raw materials were a copper strip, a zinc strip, a piece of metal wire, and a piece of fruit. As copper and zinc had different active types, after inserting them into the fruit, zinc would undergo oxidation. The lost electrons would flow to the copper, thereby generating current in the wire. Since it was an easy process, Richard gave a simple explanation and assigned Angie to the task. She did not disappoint Richard and completed it in no time. A thin iron wire was connected to the nail-sized copper and zinc, both inserted into a pear. The servant Angie carefully handed the fruit battery to Richard. Upon receiving it, Richard frowned as he realized that it was not up to the task. There was no problem with the process they had used to build the battery. After all, the process was so simple that it was impossible to make an error. Since the fruit juice was acidic, it was easy to trigger a chemical reaction, thereby generating electric current. However, compared to real acid, the acidity of fruit was too weak, therefore the current and voltage generated were too small. Richard tested it with a self-made simple tool and found that the voltage was less than 0.5 volts, and the current was less than 1 milliampere. The current was stronger than a human¡¯s normal biological current, however it wouldn¡¯t have any effect on the body. After all, the human body could resist it. If the body spontaneously increased its biological current, nothing would happen. However, it was still impossible for a normal person without a wizard¡¯s talent to do it. If he wanted to apply an electric current from an external source to alter the body, and reach the second life reconstruction through science, he had to overcome the human body¡¯s resistance, which was as high as 1000 ¦¸ or more, and apply a stronger current. The question now was how to get a stronger current. Richard frowned, thought for a few seconds, and asked the two servants to create different fruit batteries. The acidity of the juice was different in each fruit, so the current generated had to be different as well. If he could find the fruit battery with the strongest current, he might be able to overcome the body¡¯s resistance of more than 1000 ¦¸ and meet the requirements. There were quite a number of fruits in the Middle Ages. Some common fruits included cherries, strawberries, blackberries, apples, pears, American cherries, plums, grapes, damson plums, gooseberries, mulberries, blackthorns, figs, dates, limes, lemons, and other dozens of fruits. Richard gave an order, and someone prepared these fruits for him. Not long after, except for some fruits that were not in their ripening season, these were placed on the experimenting table. Richard waved his hand, and the two servants, Angie and Luna, quickly started creating fruit batteries. Not long after, various types of fruit batteries were laying on the table in two rows. Those on the left had been prepared by Angie, and those on the right had been prepared by Luna. Obviously, Angie had built slightly more fruit batteries. Richard did not make any comments. He picked up a fruit battery to test it. After a while, he put it down and picked up another one. After repeatedly testing all the fruit batteries, Richard had the answer. Due to the different acidity levels, some of the fruits such as apples and gooseberries actually emitted stronger currents than pears. The strongest was lemon, but even so, the voltage was just over 0.5 volts, and the current was just over one milliampere. Under normal circumstances, the minimum current that would induce a sensation in an adult male was about 1.01 milliampere on average. In other words, in terms of human body resistance, these currents would barely cause a slight sensation in an ordinary person. This was not what Richard wanted. Richard stood in the laboratory with a deep frown. The two servants stared at Richard¡¯s solemn expression and looked at each other. They lowered their heads, not daring to utter a word. Although they knew very well that His Highness did not lose his temper easily, let alone punish his servants for no reason, it would not be good to anger him. Richard did not know what the two servants were thinking. He was lost in thought, trying to come up with a solution. Chapter 17 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios How to get a stronger current? Perhaps other than fruits, he could try using plants to make batteries. For example, there was a famous clock made from potatoes. However it seemed like there were no potatoes in the Middle Ages. After all, according to terrestrial history, it was not after the Middle Ages and the Age of Discovery that someone brought potatoes from South America to Europe. In this medieval world, Richard could not be sure whether it was because of that specific era in its history, or whether there were continents like South America and Europe. However, it was true that there were no potatoes, therefore there was no point in thinking about potato clocks. Furthermore, even if he could build a potato clock, there was a high probability that it might be useless. After all, plants could not be highly acidic if they were grown normally. It was very possible that after trying all the plants on this world, the current in the battery would always be within the same range. In this case¡­ Richard¡¯s eyes narrowed, and he suddenly thought of something. In this case, he was only left with making real batteries, such as voltaic piles, Baghdad batteries, alkaline batteries and more. Although he had wanted to avoid doing the hard work, it seemed that he still had to do it. With that in mind, Richard turned around and ordered the two servants to start working. They spent most of the day gathering the materials they had and making all the possible batteries, which they then lined up on the table. Richard tested them, but found that none met his requirements. Some had weak currents, while others had low voltages. Although this could be solved by arranging them in parallel or in series, the power supply was unstable, weak at times, and strong at other instances. Although it was unclear how it would work for creating a magic source, Richard believed that it would not have positive results. ¡°Well, it still doesn¡¯t work,¡± Richard murmured, letting out a suffocating breath. Shaking his head, he opened the door of the private laboratory and walked out, the servants Angie and Luna quickly followed suit. The other servants in the hall saw that Angie and Luna were still with Richard, and they could not help but cast jealous glances at them. However, very soon they realized that Prince Richard had an unpleasant expression on his face, while Angie and Luna looked flustered. They then directed gloating glances at them. There was also fierce competition among the servants. At this moment, in the eyes of the other servants, Angie and Luna had obviously not completed the task assigned by Richard and had thus angered him. This was good news for them. Tap, tap, tap. Richard walked through the hall, towards the palace gates. He was surprised that it was nearly afternoon. Half a day had passed by before he even knew it. After conducting three experiments, he had yet to solve the problem of the electric current. How should he solve it? Richard was lost in thought. Chief Bodyguard Edward appeared. Upon seeing Richard, he thought about reminding him to eat lunch, yet after noticing Richard¡¯s frown, lost in contemplation, he stopped in his tracks. He was tactful enough not to bother him. The whole world suddenly became quiet. The guards and servants in the palace worked while trying not to make any noises, lest it disturbed Richard and angered him. The world around Richard was strangely silent for a long time as he sought for the solution to his problem. After a while, Richard suddenly raised his head and looked at the square in front of him. Thump, thump. Two bullfinches swept past the square, their bodies almost against the ground. He turned to look at the top of the gates. In a corner, a spider was weaving a vertical spiderweb quickly. With his eyes narrowed, Richard stretched out his hand. The humidity in the air was increasing. Turning his head, he glanced at the sky. He could still see the sun, but the clouds were thickening, and the southern sky seemed slightly darker. ¡°Is it going to rain?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes narrowed. Theoretically, this was a normal event. After several days of warm weather, a large amount of vapor had evaporated into the air, and there was a much higher chance of rain. It seemed that it would be a downpour. Once it rained, there would also be lightning. As a natural electric current, lightning was strong enough in theory to change the biological electric current in a person. However, figuring out how to control and use the current was a problem, since he certainly did not want to be struck by lightning. That would not be scientific research at all, but suicide. In that case¡­ After a while, Richard turned around and had come up with a plan. He turned to the Chief Bodyguard Edward. ¡°Get me the royal craftsman. I have something to tell him.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Chapter 18 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Near the evening, the sky above darkened quickly. The entire world emanated a strange and mysterious amber light, signaling an impending downpour. At the square in front of Richard¡¯s palace, a bodyguard was holding a bizarre kite made by a craftsman and staring at the sky above him nervously. Boom! Amid the layers of clouds, thunder roared, and a gust of strong wind swept across the square. The bodyguard turned around. When he saw Richard nodding, he gulped and mustered his courage as he began flying the kite. This was not an ordinary kite, but one that could attract lightning, as there was a gold chain on it. The string of the kite had been weaved with a thin silver wire, and a strange-looking bottle was attached to its end. Richard had thought of this method¡ªusing a kite to capture lightning¡ªafter experiencing three consecutive failures. In fact, many people had thought of it before, and some had even taken action to realize it. In June 1952 on Earth, American scientist Benjamin Franklin and his son had flown a kite with a bronze key attached to it. When the kite rose to the sky and was hit by lightning, electricity was conducted via the metal string on the kite, proving that lightning was also a form of electricity. After this, Benjamin Franklin became famous. On Earth, this was considered primary school knowledge and not difficult to implement at all. The only consideration was how to store the electricity from the lightning, so Richard had chosen to use the Leyden jar, that bottle attached to the end of the kite string, for this. The Leyden jar had been invented by Dutch scientist Pieter van Musschenbroek in 1745 on Earth. The original Leyden jar had been merely a glass or ceramic bottle with tin foil coating the inner and outer surfaces. A metal rod went through the mouth of the jar, connected by the metal chain into the inner tin foil. On the end of the rod was a metal ball with a diameter of around one centimeter. Similar to the working principle of a capacitor, the jar could store a fixed quantity of electric charge and release it when needed. Though the structure was simple, the electric currents it could contain were very strong. In a 1748 experiment conducted in Paris, the electricity released by the Leyden jar was enough to make over 200 monks holding hands jump at the same time. Therefore, this method could definitely meet his requirements. Richard glanced at the bodyguard as he pondered over this. The wind at the square became increasingly stronger, and the kite in the bodyguard¡¯s hands rose higher and higher until it reached the sky. Boom! There was a flash of lightning. The dark and gloomy ground suddenly lit up, and an enormous blurry black shadow swept across it. He then heard thunder. The bodyguard had a fright. Gritting his teeth and holding his breath, he kept pushing the kite to fly higher. Puff, puff. The strong winds raged, and bolts of lightning flashed across the stormy clouds in the sky. Suddenly, there was a loud thunder, and a lightning bolt hit the flying kite. The entire kite turned into a ball of flames, fire spreading down along the string of the kite. The bodyguard¡¯s face paled instantly, and his eyes widened. The moment he saw the flames, he couldn¡¯t help but to let go of the kite, and the Leyden jar attached to the end of the kite string was also dropped. Edward, who was standing by his side, witnessed this. He cursed and gave the bodyguard a hard kick. He then leaped for the Leyden jar, reached out and caught it before it fell on the ground. Edward¡¯s eyes also widened when he saw a flash of blue light landing on the bottle in his hands through the kite string. A numbing sensation enveloped his body and, simultaneously, all the hair on his body stood up. He was terrified¡ªa fear of the unknown¡ªand he suddenly could not move. After a long while, this numbness left his body, and his hair returned to normal. Edward took a deep breath and started moving. He threw a harsh glance at the bodyguard beside him and then ran to Richard with the Leyden jar. As he approached the palace, it started raining cats and dogs. All of a sudden, the entire sky turned white, and there were sounds of rain splashing. Edward was dazed for a moment and thanked his good fortune. He turned around, glanced at Richard and passed the Leyden jar to him. ¡°Your Highness, it¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Richard took the Leyden jar and nodded slightly. He turned around and left without speaking further. Behind him, Edward said quickly, ¡°Your Highness, you haven¡¯t eaten lunch. What about dinner¡ª¡± Before he could finish his words, Richard¡¯s figure had already ascended to the second floor and disappeared from his sight. Edward smiled helplessly and muttered to himself, ¡°Sigh, he¡¯s not going to eat for a whole day again. If he doesn¡¯t take breakfast tomorrow, it will be an entire day. Sigh, it¡¯s so difficult to be chief bodyguard.¡± The sun hadn¡¯t fully risen by the time he woke up the next morning. When the yawning Edward walked past the dining room and took a casual glance at it, his eyes suddenly widened. He saw Richard in the dining room having his breakfast. ¡°This¡­¡± Edward rubbed his eyes hard to confirm that he was seeing correctly. He walked into the dining room in disbelief and asked, ¡°Your Highness, you- why are you up so early today?¡± ¡°Well, I can¡¯t sleep,¡± Richard said nonchalantly. He used the knife to slice the white bread into pieces, spread some sour fruit jam on it, and then he put it into his mouth. Richard appeared to be thinking as he frowned and ate. Last night, the experiment with natural lightning and the Leyden jar had failed. Otherwise, he would not be having his breakfast that early. Following The Writings of Monroe, Richard had conducted the second experiment to decipher the science behind the second life construction. After entering the astral projection mode, he had spent a herculean effort to make his consciousness awaken his body and had then released the electricity in the Leyden jar into it. He had been hoping to increase the bioelectricity in his body, enter the highly activated state, and create a magic source. The electric current of the Leyden jar was certainly strong enough. Soon, Richard¡¯s body started to undergo magical changes, but it had only been for a short duration. This was because the Leyden jar was by nature a capacitor and could only release one-time electric currents. Therefore, when the stored electricity was used up, the highly activated state disappeared instantly, and his body returned to normal. Hence he had not been able to create the magic source. ¡°As expected, just luck won¡¯t help me decipher the second life reconstruction. I have to spend more time and energy in this,¡± Richard muttered. By the time he had eaten another piece of white bread with sour fruit jam, which tasted as dry as dust, Richard had already made up his mind. In fact, it was not difficult to obtain a stable source of electric current, even in this medieval world. He could still do that with a few simple materials, yet the process was tedious and he had wanted to save the trouble, which is why he had conducted the fruit battery experiment and so on. However, since that had not worked, he would have to use the most tedious and cumbersome method, and also the most direct way. He reached out for his cup, gulped down its content, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He then glanced at Edward and instructed, ¡°Can you find me the royal craftsman?¡± ¡°Now? Here?¡± Edward was slightly stunned. Richard nodded and confirmed, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Er, yes, Your Highness.¡± Edward walked away quickly. Chapter 19 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios The royal craftsman soon arrived at the dining room where Richard was. The food on the table had been taken away, and Richard had spread a long scroll on it, quickly drawing something with a quill. Edward was puzzled, yet he stood beside him not daring to disturb. The craftsman also did not have the courage to utter a word, so he merely bowed his head without speaking. However, he glanced at the scroll from time to time to check what Richard was drawing. He seemed to be drawing a machine. It looked like a windmill, but more complicated. Scratch, scratch. Eventually, Richard put down the quill in his hand, glanced at the content on the scroll, and nodded slightly, before turning to look at the craftsman waiting. The craftsman looked more than 50 years old, but he was merely in his forties. Craftsmen led a difficult life in this world. Even if they were employed by the royal palace, they were only slightly better than serfs. Long-term fatigue made them age faster. His face was full of wrinkles, and he had sunken eyes with heavy under-eye bags. At this moment, he was looking at the prince nervously. ¡°Are you Hans?¡± Richard asked. ¡°Yes, Your Highness, I¡¯m Hans,¡± the craftsman said quickly. He had not expected His Highness to call him by his name correctly. There was surprise and¡­ panic in his voice. After all, it might not necessarily be a good thing for His Highness to remember a nobody like him. Richard waved his hand and said directly, ¡°Come over here and take a look at my blueprint. Can you understand it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The craftsman hurriedly approached him, his eyes shifting to the scroll. After a few serious glances, he confirmed his guess and asked tentatively, ¡°This- this seems to be a windmill, Your Highness?¡± ¡°Yes, it is indeed a windmill. Are you confident you can make it? I will give you five days at most,¡± Richard said. ¡°Uh, this¡­¡± The craftsman hesitated, looked at the blueprint, estimated the workload, and said with uncertainty, ¡°It should be possible.¡± ¡°Take a closer look and give me an answer only when you are certain. If there is anything that you don¡¯t understand, you can ask me now, and I will answer your questions. Don¡¯t tell me in a few days that there¡¯s a problem and you can¡¯t complete it,¡± Richard said. ¡°Uh, yes yes,¡± the craftsman replied, sweat dripping from his face. He looked at the blueprint again, his eyes flashed. He suddenly realized that the blueprint was not as simple as he had thought it to be. At the very least, when compared to ordinary windmills, there were many parts that he could not understand. He quickly stretched out his hand and pointed at a specific part. ¡°Your Highness, there- there seem to be some problems in this area. Windmills are usually installed on a pillar. Why is the windmill installed on this¡ª¡± Richard glanced at it and slowly said, ¡°This is a turret.¡± ¡°A turret?¡± The craftsman was startled. ¡°Indeed, windmills are usually installed on pillars. The structure is simple and easy to build, but the disadvantage is that they cannot always adapt to the wind direction and need to be adjusted manually, which is laborious and inefficient. However, in this blueprint the windmill blades will be installed on a special turret. The turret can automatically rotate around the central axis to face the wind¡¯s direction. This will allow us to utilize the wind as much as possible at all times,¡± Richard explained aloud. The craftsman widened his eyes, surprise on his face. ¡°Can- can this really be done? But Your Highness, how do we do it? The wind¡­ won¡¯t just come from one direction, it may be from any direction.¡± ¡°There is a specific part on the turret for that.¡± Richard pointed at the blueprint. ¡°There is a tail fan behind the main blade, perpendicular to it. It¡¯s connected to the gear track on the edge of the turret. So no matter which direction the wind comes from, as long as it blows through the tail fan, the tail fan will push the turret to rotate, ensuring that the main blade of the wind tower is always aligned with the wind¡¯s direction.¡± The craftsman listened to his explanation, scratching his head. He still did not quite understand. However, at least he was certain about one thing: His Highness was not talking nonsense. He knew what he was doing. In fact, he was much more knowledgeable than him. In that case¡­ The craftsman took a deep breath and asked questions about different areas he could not understand. ¡°Your Highness, over here¡­¡± ¡°Yes, the two heavy balls that swing outward on the cantilever are centrifugal governors. You don¡¯t need to understand the principle. All you have to know is that they can be used to automatically adjust the rotor speed to adapt to different wind speeds. That¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Uh, okay. Your Highness, about the rotor¡ª¡± ¡°Oh, that.¡± Richard picked up the quill and ticked off the corresponding parts. ¡°This is somewhat complicated. You don¡¯t have to do it, I will do it myself. I need it to induce electricity, and I¡¯ll need artificial magnets for that. You don¡¯t have the skills to make them yet.¡± ¡°Well, Your Highness, how about this part over here?¡± ¡°This is an improved crankshaft, used to transfer energy to drive the rotor. Pay attention to it.¡± ¡°Your Highness, how about this part?¡± ¡°This is the area where the current is stored. I will do it myself. All you need to do is to leave the necessary space for it.¡± ¡°How about over here?¡± Richard took more than an hour to explain everything in detail, until the craftsman finally figured out the specific parts of the blueprint. He wiped the sweat from his face and said, ¡°Your Highness, this windmill seems to be a really difficult project. I am afraid that five days¡ª¡± ¡°One week then,¡± Richard said, his voice somewhat serious. ¡°But it can¡¯t be any longer. I have limited time. This must not be delayed.¡± ¡°Uh, this¡­¡± The craftsman hesitated, not daring to refuse his order. He gritted his teeth and nodded. ¡°Sure, Your Highness, I will make it in a week.¡± ¡°Good.¡± The craftsman took the blueprint and left. The next moment, Edward was about to say something when Richard glanced at him and gave an order, ¡°Edward, find me some iron filings and rust powder.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Edward was taken aback. He said what he had been trying to say all the while, ¡°Your Highness, what is it that you are making?¡± ¡°You will know by then,¡± Richard said. ¡°Uh, okay.¡± His answer was similar to not answering at all. Edward shrugged, turned and left helplessly. That afternoon, iron filings and rust powder were sent to Richard¡¯s private laboratory. Inside the private laboratory, the bright afternoon sun shone through. Richard looked at the dozens of catties[1.Catty is a unit of weight, used especially in East Asia, traditionally equal to about one and a half pounds but formalized as 0.5 kg in mainland China] of iron filings and rust powder on the experiment table and nodded with satisfaction. Although Edward had mediocre swordsmanship skills, he was still fairly capable. According to Edward, the combined weight of these iron filings and rust powder exceeded 100 pounds. The pound was a British-American unit of weight. One pound was equivalent to 0.45359237 kilograms, which was about 0.9071847 catties. However, every time someone mentioned this British-American unit of weight, Richard¡¯s habit was to automatically convert it into the unit that he had memory of. One pound was about 0.9 catties, therefore 100 pounds was equivalent to about 90 kilograms, which was quite a lot. The only reason why he needed so many iron filings and so much rust powder was to make the rotor for the windmill. Richard had decided to use the most fundamental method, one that would never fail to create electricity. Chapter 20 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios If he wanted to create electricity, he needed to understand electromagnetics. On Earth, Faraday first discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction on October 17th 1831, and then he developed a method for generating alternating current, which was regarded as an important achievement for the research of electromagnetism. Electromagnetic induction occurred when a magnet passed through a closed circuit, generating a current. Hence, he could maintain a closed circuit while rotating a magnet. The closed circuit would cut the magnetic induction line from the magnet in the static state. The circuit would continuously generate current, and the mechanical energy would be converted into electrical energy, thus becoming a simple generator. This theory was taught in high school physics¡¯ textbooks, and it was not considered as an advanced or difficult concept. The only problem was to acquire the basic materials and elements. To keep this engine running continuously, it was impossible to rely on manpower. That would be inefficient and error-prone. He had to rely on natural resources, which were either wind or water. Richard had chosen to use wind power, and hence he had designed a windmill that could generate electricity, as explained in the blueprint he had given the craftsman. However, the craftsman could only make some of the simple parts. He had to make the other parts himself, such as the complex rotors, the energy storage equipment, or the rotating shaft. This was very troublesome, and that was the reason why he would only do this as a last resort. However, now that it had been decided, he had to carry it till the end. First, he had to make a rotor. The main material for the rotor was magnet. He could use a neodymium iron boron magnet, a samarium cobalt magnet, an alnico magnet, or an iron chromium cobalt magnet. However at present, there were no magnets of any kind on Blue Lion Kingdom, so he had to make one himself. He had chosen to create the simplest and most common magnet¡ªa ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4) magnet. To make ferroferric oxide magnets, he needed ferroferric oxide. There were many ways to obtain this material, such as the hydrogen reduction method of ¦Á-iron oxide, the slow oxidation method of ferrous hydroxide, the Harber method, the addition method, the alkali addition method and more. In the end, he chose the addition method. The two most critical reaction substrates for this method were elemental iron (iron filings, Fe) and ferric oxide (rust powder, Fe2O3). Taking a deep breath, Richard washed his hands, put on a dust mask to prevent powder from entering his mouth and nose, and began to work. First, Richard put the iron filings into sulfuric acid. As soon as they were placed into the beaker, bubbles immediately appeared, and there was a violent reaction. Thus ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) was formed. After the reaction was completed, Richard started adding caustic soda (NaOH) and ferric oxide (Fe2O3). Then he heated it up to 95-105 ¡ãC, to trigger another reaction and finally produce ferroferric oxide from the solution. However, the ferroferric oxide was impure. Richard transferred this new solution to a funnel with filter paper and started filtering. He then dried the filtered solid matter and carried a series of procedures. After much trouble, he finally produced pure ferroferric oxide. Through magnetization, ferroferric oxide became a real magnet and turned completely black. He repeated this step to make a sufficient number of magnets and fixed them in a ring-shaped mold. The most important part of the generator, the rotor, was created. Yet after making the rotor, Richard did not rest, and he instead started making the energy storage equipment. Even if windmills could generate electricity, electricity had to be stored before it could be used. This required the use of real rechargeable batteries, not fruit batteries, much less capacitors like Leyden jars. What Richard planned to make was a lead-acid battery. This was the cheapest and most common electric vehicle battery in modern times. The reason for choosing it was that, on the one hand, the materials were easy to obtain, and on the other hand, it had a simple structure. It only had four parts: a positive plate group, a negative plate group, an electrolyte, and a container. Except for the sulfuric acid, which functioned as the electrolyte, he only needed one, or in fact two substances. The first substance was lead, for making the negative plate groups. The second substance was lead monoxide, which was the oxidizing material of lead in the air. This would be for making the positive plate groups. Many materials didn¡¯t exist in the Middle Ages, but lead was not the case. According to modern history knowledge on Earth, humans had begun extracting iron, copper, silver, and lead in large quantities at around 2000 BC. Therefore, Richard easily acquired sufficient lead and lead monoxide. Taking a deep breath, Richard turned serious. Both lead and lead monoxide were toxic. Excessive inhalation and ingestion could result in heavy metal poisoning, the effects ranging from physical discomfort to death. In Ancient Roman on Earth, the Ancient Romans had not known the dangers of lead. They had used lead pipes as water pipes for a long period of time, and they had also used lead as the material for their drinking containers. This had resulted in chronic lead poisoning for a large number of people, which had been a major factor in the decline of the Roman Empire. Richard knew this and did not want to repeat the same mistake. He had no wish to become seriously ill even before he became a wizard, so he took adequate protection before conducting the experiment. He first put on a dust mask before wearing another bird beak mask on the outside. He then donned a tight black protective suit that covered his entire body. Finally, he wore gloves made from cow bladder. Once he was ready, Richard took a deep breath, feeling the air flow through the herbal sac in the beak mask into his lungs. He began working with a determined look in his eyes. The first step involved pouring sufficient sulfuric acid into the prepared container, which would act as the strippant. Next, he inserted the gray fleece lead plate that would function as the negative electrode into the container and secured it. He then put the brown lead monoxide plate that functioned as the positive electrode inside and secured it. He placed a separator plate between the positive and negative electrodes to prevent contact between them. After that, he repeatedly inserted a lead plate followed by a lead monoxide plate into the container, one after another, until the whole container was full. This was so that multiple sets of positive and negative plates could form a series, thereby increasing the voltage of the lead-acid battery. After doing this, Richard heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that the main part of the lead-acid battery was completed, and the next step was to just set up minor parts such as the external wires. Richard continued working and finally completed it by the evening. Bang, bang. Richard placed the newly-built lead-acid batteries and rotors on the wooden frame. He turned around and took off his gloves, his beak mask, dust mask, and protective clothing. Only then did he realize that his whole body was drenched in perspiration. After all, it was a hot summer day. Even if he was in the relatively cool palace, it was still a torture to work the entire afternoon. He had not noticed it when working. However after completing the work, he had felt his underwear clinging to his skin, his whole body sticky. Frowning, Richard opened the door and walked out of his private laboratory. Chapter 21 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios It was a quiet and serene night. Stars filled the skies above the entire planet, shining like a cradle studded with gems. Blue Lion City sprawled on the plains. Most of it was dark, like a sleeping unmoving child, but a touch of light would occasionally appear somewhere. Yet those were not the eyes of the sleeping child awakening from his sleep, but the palace of Blue Lion City. In the royal bathroom, there was a large bathtub, and Richard lay in it with his eyes closed. The bathtub was filled with water, kept at a temperature of about 45 ¡ãC. The temperature was higher than the normal human body temperature, however it was not too warm for a hot summer night. The pores on Richard¡¯s skin slowly opened, and his entire body relaxed bit by bit. Several maids were standing a few meters away from the bathtub, waiting to receive orders. Further away, in the corner of the bathroom, a maid was heating smooth pebbles with fire. After roasting the pebbles till red, she picked them up with iron tongs and placed them into a bucket full of water on the side. Shush. The hot pebbles dropped into the bucket, and large ripples appeared on the surface. Steam billowed out from the bucket, turning into a white mist of small water drops when meeting the cold air, thus releasing heat. The mist lingered, maintaining the temperature in the entire room. The maid could not help but break out in perspiration. However, she dared not move much less make a noise, lest she disturbed His Highness. Richard, who was in the bathtub, suddenly opened his eyes. A maid asked tentatively, ¡°Your Highness?¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Richard responded. ¡°Understood.¡± The maid nodded, a gleam of light flashed in her big eyes, and she quickly approached Richard. Walking to the bathtub, she bent down to take a porcelain jar from a bamboo basket. She then poured the bathing cream made of herbs and rose petals from the jar on her hands and spread it. She stood up and carefully applied the bathing cream onto Richard¡¯s skin. She gently rubbed and massaged him, also rubbing away his fatigue with her gentle touch. Richard closed his eyes again. The massage continued for 10 minutes. Richard could feel his tense muscles relax, so he waved gently. The maid who was massaging him understood his meaning and said in a low voice, ¡°Yes, Your Highness.¡± She then moved further away from the bathtub. Swoosh. Richard stood up, walked out of the bathtub, and stepped onto a non-slip wooden board on the side. The water droplets on his body quickly rolled down to the ground, wetting the floor. The three maids swiftly stepped forward, one of them carrying a bucket with her. She walked to stand behind Richard and poured water over his body. This time, the water was around 30 ¡ãC, which was lower than the human body temperature. However, Richard did not find it cold to the touch. Instead, his expanded pores closed slightly, and his relaxed muscles and skin instantly tightened, making him feel totally refreshed. Another maid took a large dry cloth and quickly wiped Richard¡¯s body. After wiping him clean, the last maid came forward and helped Richard put on new clothes and boots. When everything was done, Richard stepped out of the bathroom. The remaining maids cleaned up quickly and left one by one. Late at night, the lights in the palace had dimmed, leaving only a few on. There was a row of low-rise houses at the northwest corner of the palace which didn¡¯t match the overall architectural style of the palace, the place where craftsmen and male servants lived. A small oil lamp was lit in one of the houses. Hans, the craftsman who Richard had ordered to create a windmill, was squinting at the blueprint laid out on the table, his nose almost touching the scroll. After staring at it for a long time, Hans frowned, fixed his gaze on a part of the blueprint and said, ¡°What exactly is this? Why can¡¯t I understand it?! This is terrible, I didn¡¯t ask His Highness back then. If I can¡¯t make the windmill, then¡­¡± With an anxious expression on his face, Hans turned around and walked toward the shed outside. There was a wooden frame erected inside the shed, but it was shoddy. He had worked the whole day to make a simple turret. Hans reached out and touched something, talking to himself, ¡°I still can¡¯t figure it out, what is this part for? If I place it here, won¡¯t it affect the rotation?¡± Hans pondered for a long while but still could not get an answer. He walked back to the house in a depressed mood and looked at the blueprint scroll again with despair. Suddenly, his eyes flashed. There was a line of insignificant annotations on the part he couldn¡¯t understand. ¡°Wings, shafts, gears,¡± he read them aloud, and his eyes lit up. This instantly cleared his doubts. However, Hans frowned again and muttered to himself a little strangely, ¡°I can¡¯t remember there being annotations on this part, why are there instructions now? Or were these already here, but I didn¡¯t see it? This is strange. No one has come in either, and no one would dare to touch His Highness Prince Richard¡¯s stuff. This¡­¡± Hans looked around the room, which was quiet and empty. He glanced at the doors and windows. There was total silence. ¡°Well, no matter what, since I have figured it out, I should get down to work,¡± Hans said. He then walked back to the shed and prepared to work overnight. After all, Richard had given him only one week to finish the windmill, and it was a very tight deadline for him. Chapter 22 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Meanwhile, at the king¡¯s residence, situated in the middle of the palace. There were many lit candles and oil lamps in the spacious bedroom of around 60 square meters. However, the brightness did not liven up the atmosphere and, despite the warm summer night, the room felt gloomy and cold. A splendorous wooden bed sat in the middle of the bedroom, like an isolated raft floating lonely on a vast ocean. On it lay an old man with a wrinkled face¡ªAustin Donners¡ªthe king of Blue Lion Kingdom. At this moment, Donner looked very pale. His skin had an uncanny dark tone, and some of it had already decomposed, giving a faint and putrid smell. Covered in a thin blanket, he was breathing with much difficulty, his chest heaving. The sleeping King Donners looked rather lifeless, weaker than the candle flame flickering beside him. Suddenly, there was a cough. King Donners was jolted awake from his sleep. When he opened his eyes, he felt suffocated, choking on a viscous phlegm. He wanted to expel it from his body but to no avail. His face was swollen and red. Beneath his flabby skin, blood vessels bulged, and he sat up with difficulty, trying to attract attention for help. However, the two guards standing at the door seemed deaf. Bang, bang, bang. The King kept hitting the bed, but they stood rooted to the spot. Under the flickering candlelight outside, the two guards cast shadows on the ground beside the door, slightly distorted, like struggling souls tempted by the devil. Bang, bang! He coughed again. King Donners continued beating the bed. His fists were clenched, his joints already white, the bluish veins on his temples bulged, and his eyes widened. He opened his mouth but could not breathe. He was like a fish that had been shoved on the shore by the wind and waves. In that instant, King Donners felt a heavy blow on his back. Someone had hit him. His whole body suddenly shook, and his throat loosened. He coughed out the blocked sputum on the ground. Puff, puff. Donners began to gasp, and his chest heaved violently, sounding like a broken pair of bellows. Finally, the two guards outside the door heard the noise and came in. But someone else acted faster: the palace butler¡ªDeron. He had been keeping guard outside the bedroom but had dozed off because of his old age. After being awakened by the noise in the bedroom, he ran in to find out what happened. When he discovered Donners sitting up and gasping for breath, with the viscous saliva in Donner¡¯s mouth dripping onto the blanket, Butler Deron immediately understood the situation. He walked to Donners and patted his back softly, making the king cough repeatedly so that he could spit out the remaining phlegm in his throat. Afterward, he wiped Donners¡¯s mouth with a handkerchief and asked carefully, ¡°Your Majesty, are you alright?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine¡­ not dead yet,¡± Donners said, panting. ¡°Your Majesty, do you want to continue resting then?¡± ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t be able to sleep again tonight after waking up.¡± Donners waved his hand. Tormented by the strange disease, the paleness on his face was particularly obvious. He said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you update me on what¡¯s happening lately? How are my two sons, William and Richard, doing? I hope they haven¡¯t stirred up any trouble.¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t,¡± Butler Deron said, shaking his head. ¡°Both princes have been doing very well. Prince William has taken the initiative to reduce his palace expenses. He said it is to find a better doctor to treat you. Yesterday morning, he visited you, but you had just fallen asleep after much difficulty so he went back, he did not want to disturb your sleep. He even reminded me not to tell Your Majesty, lest you felt disappointed.¡± ¡°Um, William is not bad.¡± Donners nodded. He then asked, ¡°What about Richard?¡± ¡°Prince Richard¡­¡± Butler Deron hesitated slightly before saying, ¡°Prince Richard also cares very much about you, but he has been busy recently, so¡ª¡± ¡°So since the last time he came, he has not asked about me, right?¡± Donners said. He was closing his eyes slowly, as if he was trying to calm down. ¡°Your Majesty,¡± Butler Deron said slowly. ¡°Perhaps Prince Richard is still cross with you. After all, you wrongly blamed him for the incident a few years ago.¡± Donners opened his eyes and fell silent for a long time. He then said slowly, ¡°I was too impulsive three years ago. But if he had not done all those wizard stuff, why would I have misunderstood him? What is done is done. What else can I do? ¡°I¡¯m the king. Does he expect me to apologize to him and ask for his forgiveness? And even if I apologized to him, I doubt he would accept it!¡± Upon finishing his words, Donners looked a little sad. ¡°Your Majesty, calm down,¡± Butler Deron said quickly. ¡°You can¡¯t apologize to Prince Richard, but you can punish those who contributed to the situation at the time. It¡¯s said that the rumours were spread by someone from Prince William¡¯s palace, so¡ª¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk about this anymore.¡± Donners waved his hand. ¡°William has already explained the reasons to me in detail. The problem wasn¡¯t because of that employee at all, I just made a mistake a few years ago. In order to make up for one mistake, do I have to make another one? ¡°Richard, if he feels wronged, so be it. He will have to endure it, I¡¯m his father! I can¡¯t possibly hurt William again for the sake of fairness. Besides, is this world fair after all? ¡°You should be well aware that I think very highly of William. Both in terms of magnanimity and resourcefulness, he is far better than I was when I was young. I believe Blue Lion Kingdom will definitely become stronger after I hand it over to him. As the next in line to the throne, he cannot have any black marks. ¡°As for Richard, I know he was hurt. I will get William to compensate him well when the time comes. He will be granted tax exemption and the best territories. He should feel happy about it! After all, what happened in the end was that some of his subordinates were killed by mistake and he was also imprisoned for a while. ¡°As for those few people killed, he claimed that they were assistants he had spent a lot of time training but, in my opinion, they were just a few ignorant bumpkins and hillbillies, not even attractive servants. So what if they were killed? This is in exchange for a lifetime of wealth for him. What¡¯s there to complain? ¡°He has to tolerate it, even if he¡¯s not happy. I¡¯m his father and the king! Everything on this land belongs to me, and everyone must obey me! I¡¯m not dead yet, and I won¡¯t allow anything that goes against my wishes. I- I don¡¯t want to hear anyone defy me.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Butler Deron didn¡¯t dare refute, but his eyes flickered. ¡°But Your Majesty, isn¡¯t it too soon for you to say this?¡± ¡°Ha, ha,¡± Donners laughed. He could read Butler Deron¡¯s mind, so he said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know my health. Although I¡¯m suffering from a strange disease and my health is deteriorating, I can still hang on for now. By the way, when all the leaves of the birch forest outside the city have turned yellow because of autumn, I still want to go and see it.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s good, that¡¯s good,¡± Butler Deron repeated. He wore a complicated expression, and it was hard to tell what crossed his mind. Donners was engrossed in conversation and did not notice Deron Butler¡¯s expression. During their chat, a candle in the corner kept burning. As it burned, the candle wick became increasingly longer, cracking, and the candlelight gradually became unstable. Suddenly, an invisible force cut off a part of the candle wick. The candlelight turned stable again. Neither Donners nor Deron noticed this. They also did not notice a pair of invisible eyes slowly leaving the palace and rising into the sky. Late at night, the scenery was beautiful. The night sky was studded with dazzling stars. An invisible tape was drifting through the air. One end of it was attached to Richard, who was sitting cross-legged in a bedroom situated at the northwest of the palace, and the other end was attached to his consciousness, flying in the air. The energy from astral projection spread everywhere in the form of multiple colored light spots. Richard relaxed his consciousness and began to absorb that overwhelming amount of energy. Although the absorbed energy could not be stored before he successfully unlocked a magic source, he could still familiarize himself with this step and strengthen his spiritual power. In the distance, an enormous figure that looked completely different from a bird swooped past. Chapter 23 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios A week later. An oddly-shaped windmill stood behind Richard¡¯s palace. When a gust of wind blew, the turret on the top of the windmill automatically adjusted itself with a twisting sound. Then the main blades installed on it aligned itself with the wind¡¯s direction and began to rotate . This was a mechanical energy transfer. Swipe, swipe. Through its gear and crankshaft, the rotating blade drove the lower magnet rotor to rotate as well. A metal coil around the rotor was continuously generating and importing current, via a metal wire connected to the bottom of the windmill. Thus mechanical energy was transformed into electrical energy. At the bottom, a simple and practical lead storage battery had been fixed. It was absorbing the current and storing it, waiting to release it when needed. And thus electricity was converted into chemical energy. Night time, in the bedroom of Richard¡¯s palace. Richard sat on the bed with a fully-charged lead storage battery in front of him. With his eyes closed, Richard was in deep meditation, his body vibrating rapidly. Then, like a butterfly breaking out of a cocoon, his consciousness rushed out of his body. Looking at his body with his consciousness eyes, Richard tried to use his spiritual power to control it. He had done this many times, it practically was like a walk in the park for him by now. Soon, the body sitting on the bed moved, slowly raising its hands and touching the two external wires of the lead battery. Crack. The moment the body¡¯s hands touched the wire, it became a conductor and formed a closed circuit with the lead storage battery. The current quickly flowed out of the lead storage battery and into the body. The electric current¡¯s sensation spread all over his body and passed to Richard¡¯s consciousness through the transparent tape at the back of his neck. It felt hot and numbing. The biological current in the body began to increase tremendously, and his cells entered the highly activated state. As Richard recalled the instructions on The Writings of Monroe, he started collecting his spiritual power. After gathering as much spiritual power as possible, it had become semi-solid, like a very small speck of dust. He controlled this speck of spiritual dust to float to his heart, fixed it, and condensed another speck of spiritual dust before sticking them together. This process, similar to a swallow building a nest, was time consuming. According to The Writings of Monroe, unlocking the magic source was very important to wizards, and it often took dozens of days, or even months. The longer the period, the larger the size of the magic source constructed and the more mana (energy) could be stored. As a result, more magic could be released. Of course, since the magic source could be constructed, it could also be modified. There were many wizards who merely built a small magic source at the beginning. When they later felt that it could not meet their needs, they modified and expanded the size of the magic source. However, modifying a magic source was not easier than building a new one. Therefore, wizards who did not want to do it would just continuously unlock new magic sources as they advanced. They said that the most powerful wizard in the world had more than 10 magic sources, and his magic would almost never be exhausted. Of course, with more than 10 magic sources, perfectly using the mana in each magic source without any clashes was also a problem. But for beginners¡ªApprentice Wizards¡ªit was obviously slightly early to consider this. While thinking, Richard kept condensing the spiritual dust, slowly constructing his magic source. He worked all night yet only managed to build a structure the size of a fingernail, which was far from building a complete magic source. But Richard was not in a hurry. For a long time, he continued to build it patiently. As time went by, the magic source gradually formed. At last, a standard diamond-shaped source had been built in the middle of Richard¡¯s chest. Afterward, Richard had to face the third life reconstruction¡ªenergy smelting¡ªto become a wizard. According to the explanation in The Writings of Monroe, energy smelting was meant to transform the energy absorbed from astral projection into the purest form of standard energy: mana. In other words, because of the differences between celestial bodies, the energy from astral projection was mixed. Even if this energy was stored in the magic source, it would be difficult to use it. As such, he had to smelt and transform it into a universal mana before releasing magic. To carry out the third reconstruction, energy smelting, the body had to be in a high-energy state. Regarding this high-energy state, Richard had developed some theories while unlocking the magic source. Among them, the most likely one was that it was connected to the magnetic field. According to The Writings of Monroe, during the second life reconstruction and the third life reconstruction, energy enveloped the entire body. They had certain similarities, but they were not exactly the same. Taking into account the relationship between electricity and magnetism, it wasn¡¯t hard to determine what the third reconstruction was. Once one figured this out, the problem was easier and a lot simpler than the first and second life reconstructions. Because of electromagnetic induction, electricity could create magnetism, and magnetism could produce electricity. In the room, a metal coil was surrounding the bed. When the current in the lead storage battery flowed along the coil, a magnetic field was formed naturally. Richard, who was in it, could clearly sense the energy stored in the magic source, being refined bit by bit, and eventually turning into mana. So far, all three obstacles to becoming a wizard, the so-called three life reconstruction, had been solved by scientific methods. Suddenly, the door to magic opened. One month and a half later, late at night. The entirety of Blue Lion City had gone to sleep, and the palace was extremely quiet. In the bedroom of Richard¡¯s palace. Richard was not meditating tonight, he just stood at the window. His thoughts remained unknown. After a while, Richard turned around, and his gaze fell on the bed where The Writings of Monroe laid. The book had been opened on a certain page, the one that explained the Zero-ring Spell. The Zero-ring Spell. According to The Writings of Monroe, spells were divided into Zero-ring Spells, One-ring Spells, Two-ring Spells, Three-ring Spells and so on, which also correspond to different wizard levels. Among them, an Apprentice Wizard could release Zero-ring Spells and occasionally a less powerful One-ring Spell. A Level 1 Wizard could release One-ring Spell. In his best state, he could release some Two-ring Spells. Level 2 Wizards usually released Two-ring Spells. When they tried their best, they could release Three-ring Spells. And it kept following this pattern. Ring Spells were subdivided into three small levels¡ªlow, medium, and high. Obviously, the higher the number of the spell, the stronger the power and the greater the difficulty. In fact, the power of One-ring Spells alone could already be considered terrifying, and the most powerful One-ring spells¡ªnamely the high-level ones¡ªwere as powerful as missiles on Modern Earth. Zero-ring Spells were the lowest-level spells, and most had no destructive power. They had limited effects such as creating light, opening doors, repelling the enemy, forewarning about beasts, among others. The weakest Zero-ring Spells¡ªlow-level Zero-ring Spells¡ªwere often termed as tricks by wizards. At this moment, the spell Richard was reading was a trick called the Phosphorus Candle. ¡°Kriter er pullas turk ainize.¡± An obscure spell came from his mouth, and Richard slowly stretched out a hand. The magic source in his body shook, and mana gushed out, circulating along his blood vessels rapidly. As this happened, certain specific changes were occurring within him. When the circulation reached a certain speed, the mana was activated, like boiling water. He felt an obvious burning sensation as it passed through his blood vessels. Richard¡¯s palm shook. The activated mana flowed along the radial artery, entered the veins of his palm to his fingertips, and then rushed out. All five fingers in Richard¡¯s right hand shook violently. Poof! Five deep blue flames appeared and burned quietly. As he closed five fingers towards the center, the five flames merged into a bigger flame, burning more furiously, and illuminating the entire bedroom. Under the blue light, the atmosphere of the entire house turned sinister. The sultry summer night became a bit colder, as if the air temperature had suddenly dropped by several degrees. ¡°A Phosphorus Candle? Does phosphorus burn? So the color of the flame is blue?¡± Richard muttered to himself as he held the flame and walked to the window. He looked outside and there was no one. With a throw, the flame flew into the air. Its size quickly expanded from the size of a fist to that of a basin, and then to the size of a bathtub. A 50 cm diameter flame cast a faint blue reflection on the ground in front of the palace, making the building look very strange and mysterious. Just as it was about to expand again, it went out with a puff, disappearing without a trace like it had never existed. Edward, the Chief Bodyguard, who was also guarding the palace gate then, suddenly looked up, and there was a flash across his eyes. He thought to have seen something extraordinary from the corner of his eye but found nothing when he looked around. ¡°Did I see it wrong?¡± Edward shook his head and lowered it. His gaze returned to the palm-sized book in his hands, and he revised its ¡°content¡± again. ¡°Countess Elizabeth gave a lovely smile and, suddenly¡­¡± Richard, who was in the bedroom, sensed a special wave of energy dissipating outside the window. He looked at his hands, and there were no burnt marks. His eyes sparkled. ¡°Spells. Is this a real spell? Is this pseudoscience that cannot be explained by science? Or potential science that Modern Earth has not explored yet?¡± ¡°No matter what, the legend of the wizard seems to be true here. In that case, the more I want to figure out the truth of this world and how I came here. How interesting.¡± He closed his eyes, as if he was savoring the moment, and opened his eyes after a long time. Richard nodded and said seriously, ¡°Well, this is really interesting.¡± Chapter 24 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios The next day, at the king¡¯s palace. Sunlight shone through the bedroom windows. On the bed, King Donners was in a deep slumber under the covers. After a long while, Donners opened his eyes and stared blankly at the bedroom ceiling. A long time passed. When he became more conscious, he turned and looked to the side. Butler Deron was standing there. He asked in a hoarse voice, ¡°William¡­ and Richard, have they arrived?¡± ¡°Both of them are here. They¡¯ve been waiting outside for a while, Your Majesty,¡± Deron replied softly. ¡°Okay.¡± Donners closed his eyes, as if he had fallen asleep again. After another long pause, he opened his eyes, slowly sat up on the bed and said to Deron, ¡°Call them in.¡± ¡°Yes, Your Majesty.¡± Deron immediately walked to the door and returned after a while. Right on his heels were the two princes. Walking in front was Prince William, clad in ordinary clothes without any fancy accessories. With sadness in his eyes, he quickened his steps to Donners¡¯s bed, knelt slightly and greeted him, ¡°Father, are you feeling better?¡± Richard walked behind him calmly with a stoic expression. As he approached King Donners, he glanced at him and said emotionlessly, ¡°My Honorable Father, Your Majesty Donners. Good day.¡± ¡°Cough, cough!¡± Donners coughed a few times, his face looking much worse than it had a month ago. First, he grabbed William¡¯s hand and patted it. Then he looked at Richard and said, ¡°You¡­ Do you hate me that much? Do you need to keep reminding me of what happened three years ago for this long?¡± ¡°I dare not.¡± Donners sighed and said helplessly, ¡°Pour me a glass of wine and stand with your brother William. I will talk to you two.¡± Richard¡¯s eyes flickered. Without a word, he went to the side, took out a glass and poured half a glass of wine into it. Sunlight shone through the window. Some fine dark particles in the wine glass swirled and sank to the bottom. Richard picked up the wine glass and walked to Donners. When Donners reached out, Richard saw that the skin on his arm was very dark, as if it had been colored. Furthermore, his palms had a lump the size of a corn kernel. As Donners raised his hand, its color changed completely from dark to pale white, then purple, bright red, and finally returned to the dark color. This was a typical symptom of the Raynaud syndrome. As he watched the remaining black particles in the cup sink to the bottom, Richard handed the wine glass to his father and said, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t drink too much of this wine, My Honorable Father!¡± William turned to him and said strangely, ¡°What did you say, Brother? Father is ill, and his entire body is in pain. He can only rely on wine to relieve the pain, why would he drink less?''¡± ¡°Indeed, William is right,¡± Donners said. He brought the wine glass to his mouth, took a big sip, and slowly exhaled. ¡°I can¡¯t bear a day without this wine. Speaking of this, it is thanks to William. The wine he gave me tastes much better than the one I was having before.¡± Richard stopped speaking but shook his head slightly. Donners picked up the wine glass again and drained it. The color on his face looked better and, due to the alcohol¡¯s numbing effect, he felt more energized. Looking at William and Richard, he said, ¡°I thought I could survive this winter, but my condition is getting worse lately. It¡¯s very likely that I will go and see your mothers in advance. I called for you today because I want to tell you some things. ¡°Although Blue Lion Kingdom is small and only has a population of a few 100 000, it¡¯s a kingdom after all. So I want to hand it over to a qualified person, and that is William. Of course, Richard, it¡¯s not that you¡¯re not good¡­ cough, cough¡­ but you¡¯re obviously not interested in this. ¡°So, when the leaves of the birch forest outside the city turn yellow this fall, I will leave the city and spend my last days there. I will die and be buried there. When this happens, William will inherit my throne and, Richard, you will be named Grand Duke and be given a large territory. As long as you don¡¯t cause trouble to your brother, you will always live in peace.¡± As he raised his hand to stop William, who was trying to speak, Donners closed his eyes, perked himself up and slowly continued, ¡°Don¡¯t refuse. This is what I have decided. In any case, after my death, I hope the two of you can live well and protect this kingdom. Also¡­¡± The two princes, William and Richard, eventually walked out of the palace after hearing the last words of King Donners. Outside the palace, two bodyguards, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly caught up with them. They immediately split into two groups. Tap, tap, tap. The sound of footsteps sounded through the palace square, the two groups walking in silence. Upon reaching the end of the path, they started heading in opposite directions. Suddenly, William stopped, turned his head to Richard, and said, ¡°Richard! Brother!¡± ¡°Well?¡± Richard paused with a puzzled glance. At that moment, there was still sadness in William¡¯s eyes, and he looked moody. He said, ¡°My dear brother, after seeing Father like this, I believe we are both now in bad moods. If Father passes away, it will only be you and me in Lion Kingdom. ¡°The two of us have not sat down and talked in a long time. I¡¯d like to invite you to dinner in my palace today. I have been cutting costs in order to find a doctor to treat Father¡¯s illness, therefore dinner will be simple. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind.¡± Richard shook his head calmly, and said quietly, ¡°But I have no time.¡± ¡°Uh, so¡ª¡± ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it when I have the time, dear brother, Your Highness Prince William. Goodbye.¡± Richard waved, turned around and left. Edward, his Chief Bodyguard, followed him closely and glanced at William warily. William stood rooted to the spot in a daze. It was only when Richard and his party had walked a certain distance that he shook his head with a wry smile. ¡°Your Highness!¡± William¡¯s Chief Bodyguard spoke from behind him. Unlike Edward, he was not an aristocrat but a loyal soldier, and he said crossly, ¡°Your Highness, His Highness Richard¡¯s behavior is too much. You are obviously being kind, but he¡ª¡± The Chief Bodyguard stopped talking suddenly because William was looking at him coldly and sharply. ¡°Your- Your Royal Highness.¡± ¡°Remember this.¡± William enunciated every word. ¡°No matter what Richard does or say, he is still my brother. Beside my father, only I, and no one else, can judge him. Do you understand?¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Good. Go back,¡± William said. ¡°Your Highness, since His Highness Richard won¡¯t attend dinner, do we continue with the preparations in the kitchen?¡± the Chief Bodyguard asked in a low voice. William had said that he wanted to cut the cost lately, and he had kept his word. He only had two brunches and a dinner every day, and they were very simple¡ªwhite bread and some jam. But because he had wanted to invite Richard to dinner today, he asked the kitchen to prepare something different. He hadn¡¯t dared to prepare excessively fancy things either. Obviously, if Richard was not coming for dinner, there was a high chance that¡­ Unexpectedly, William said, ¡°Let the kitchen continue with the preparations. My dear brother is not coming, but there might be other guests.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask too much.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the Chief Bodyguard said quickly, lowering his head. Chapter 25 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios In the evening, at the dining room in Prince William¡¯s palace. On the long dining table, a candle flickered, and the entire house looked very dim. Prince William sat quietly at one end of the table, seemingly waiting for someone. The door opened and a figure sneaked into the room. Due to the dim lights, the visitor¡¯s face was undefined, but one could tell that he was a handsome young man from his profile. ¡°Your Highness.¡± The man walked in and greeted William quickly and respectfully. William signaled to him with his hand not to stand on ceremony and said softly, ¡°Take a seat. I have been waiting for you.¡± According to etiquette, the visitor should sit at the other end of the dining table. However, William moved to the seat right next to him. The visitor was taken aback for a moment, and then he sat down next to William fearfully. William clapped his hands, and a servant immediately walked into the dining room. She placed the prepared food, which was rather simple, on the table. There was white bread, pork chops, cooled roasted hare, mushroom soup and ale. The two began to eat. The entire meal progressed in silence, the atmosphere stiff. William didn¡¯t say a word. He just focused on eating, as if it required 100% of his concentration. Regardless of the taste of the food, he carefully chewed before swallowing. The visitor beside him was somewhat nervous. Although he was eating the food according to the standard etiquette of aristocrats, he was extremely slow. He cut a pork chop into many pieces before putting it into his mouth, piece by piece. Under the oppressive atmosphere, perspiration was oozing from his face. Suddenly, William seemed to have thought of something. He gently put down the knife and fork in his hands, making a soft clang, and turned to the young man beside him. Gulp. The man quickly swallowed all the food in his mouth. He also put down his dining knife quickly before meeting William¡¯s gaze. ¡°Your Highness.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± William said. ¡°You know my brother very well, right?¡± ¡°His Highness¡¯ younger brother, His Highness Richard? O- of course I know him well,¡± said the man cautiously. ¡°What do you think of my younger brother?¡± ¡°Eeh¡­¡± The man hesitated and pondered for a while. After organizing his thoughts, he said, ¡°As far as I know, His Highness is very smart but very eccentric. He is always studying something about wizards or carrying out experiments. In short, he seems completely different from Your Highness.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± William nodded and his eyes flickered. ¡°Richard¡­ Well, my brother is really smart but weird. In fact, he has been like this since he was a child. ¡°You must know that I am two years older than him, but I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t know that he could already speak fluently and communicate with other people when I was three. And he was one. The man put on a surprised expression. ¡°Of course, I didn¡¯t know about it either. After all, who can remember what happened when they were a child? My father told me this. My father also told me that my younger brother behaved very strangely when he was young. For example, he never cried. Of course, he never laughed either. He didn¡¯t behave like a child. It was as if someone else¡¯s soul had hidden in that small body of his. ¡°He picked up reading very quickly, and the teacher in the palace could no longer teach him when he was six years old. After that, the library was the place he visited the most. According to the librarian, he read a lot faster than ordinary people. While others read, he merely flipped through the pages. Most importantly, he could remember what he read very clearly. I remember that when I was 10 and he was eight years old, my father tested us and¡­ do you know what the results were? William looked at the man, who shook his head quizzically. There was a perplexed flash in William¡¯s eyes. ¡°I didn¡¯t even have a chance to think during the test. Basically, he answered even before my father could finish asking the question. In the end, my father asked him how to become a good king. In hindsight, I wonder if Father would have made him crown prince if he had given him a satisfactory answer then. But can you guess his response? The man shook his head again. ¡°He said¡­¡± William had a complicated smile on his face. ¡°He said that he could not bother to answer this question. He said being a king was a very troublesome thing, and that he had more important things to do. He didn¡¯t care about being king. The man didn¡¯t know what to say. William shook his head and muttered to himself, ¡°Can you imagine how I felt then? Well, surprised, as well as afraid. Because I suddenly realized that this younger brother was much more formidable than me. If he set his heart on something, he would definitely do it better than me. But he didn¡¯t want to do it, as if he already knew the outcome in advance. ¡°My brother is such an eccentric man and prince. In particular after Father tested him, he became even weirder. He began doing experiments, researching wizards, and making all kinds of scary things. For example, acids that could easily corrode sharp iron swords, or stones that could cause large explosions when thrown into water. ¡°No one knew what he wanted to do, nor what his purpose was. In the end, my father was somewhat afraid of him, and that is why that misunderstanding three years ago happened. At the end of the conversation, William sighed softly and looked at the man beside him. He said, ¡°I called you here because I want to be a good brother, and I want to ensure his safety. No matter what he does, follow his wishes so long as he doesn¡¯t go overboard. At the same time, I also want to be a good king and protect this kingdom well.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± William looked serious. The man was stunned as he heard William say, ¡°You have to do something for me. I need you to¡­¡± The man¡¯s expression changed rapidly. After a while, his gaze was firm, and he said, ¡°Yes!¡± Night time, at Richard¡¯s palace. Richard was reading The Writings of Monroe in his bedroom. His eyes sparked often, and he occasionally took on a thoughtful expression. Although he had successfully cast his first spell yesterday, he was not even considered a Level 1 Apprentice Wizard. There were three levels of apprenticeship: Level 1 Apprentice, Level 2 Apprentice, and Level 3 Apprentice. He would successfully become a wizard only after reaching the third level of apprenticeship and then advancing again. He had just entered the world of wizards, it was just the beginning. The journey remained to be explored, and he had to make choices. Besides, it was obviously impossible to analyze the entire world merely with the help of one wizard book. He had to acquire more knowledge about wizards, and he also had to interact with real wizards and magical creatures in the world. ¡°The journey ahead will take me far away and is nearly endless, but I shall keep striving until I get to the end someday. Much remains to be done,¡± Richard said to himself. The road ahead was long, but Richard did not think that magic wasn¡¯t something science could completely explain. No matter how amazing the spell was, it conformed with the common rules of chemistry and physics. It was impossible for flames to freeze and ice to scorch. And even if they did not conform with the rules of chemistry and physics, spells conformed to logic and mathematics. Spells were not a random force, the power of two spells combined had to be greater than one. Similarly, Archimedes, one of the leading scientists in history, who was famous for his remark ¡°give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth,¡± had understood that he could use a lever to move anything, including the planet. Or as the great mathematician and a circle fanatic he was, he could have just held a big stick and killed the Roman soldier who stopped him from drawing a circle upon his death. The unknown seemed mysterious and unpredictable, just like many things beyond our knowledge are often regarded as magic. However, everything followed a certain law, and this law was science. Science was not something immutable. It was a way of thinking and viewing the world. What Richard really wanted to do was to figure out everything, including the science behind this spell and why he had come to this world. Transmigrating and conquering the world might sound good, but after achieving it, one would know how illogical it was. If he behaved like an ostrich, as described in many novels, he would be ignoring the problem and pretending to be normal. It would mean convincing himself to assimilate into this world and live according to their ways. He could also strive to become the strongest man in this world, this was obviously one of the choices. However, Richard didn¡¯t want this either. In Richard¡¯s opinion, he would be no different from those man-made or artificially raised bugs in a box. He would be a bug if he did nothing, and he would still be a bug if he worked hard to become the strongest. Richard wanted to figure out what was going on with this box, why he had gotten into it, and then leave the box. The reason for becoming a wizard was not to use magic to destroy the world, but to understand what this latent science¡ªwhich had not existed on Modern Earth¡ªwas about. He wanted to understand its core principles in order to master and apply them. The strongest wizard was still a wizard, a bug in the box. If he could figure out all the principles and get out of the box, he would be God. This was a qualitative difference. After all, if he remained in the box, he would never know if anything could smash the box at any time and instantly destroy this entire world. ¡°There is a long road ahead,¡± Richard said to himself. ¡°So I can¡¯t waste my time. I have to walk ahead as fast as I can.¡± Chapter 26 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Very soon, more than a month had passed. It was a very peaceful and calm period. Prince William continued cutting down palace costs, King Donners was still seriously ill, and Richard was constantly studying magic from The Writings of Monroe. After a period of research, Richard had finally learned several low-level Zero-ring Spells in addition to the Phosphorus Candle Spell, namely Flame Charge, Water Drops Condensation, Wind Bulwark, Wind Repulsion, Wind Agility and the Brute Force of Wind. Flame Charge could throw a ball of flames and attack an enemy, harming him. Richard had tested it. Its power was akin to the sudden burst of flames when frying with a wok. If it was used to hit someone, it could indeed cause a somewhat painful burn, but it was not enough to kill a person. After all, low-level Zero-ring Spells resembled magic tricks, and their powers were weaker. Their main purpose was not to hurt people but to cause panic. As far as this world¡¯s development was concerned, ordinary people would already be stupefied upon seeing fire suddenly appearing in someone¡¯s hand. It was not any lesser than the fear someone on Modern Earth would feel before a gun. Water Drops Condensation could gather the humidity in the air and produce water drops in the surroundings. Simply put, it was similar to small-scale low-altitude artificial rainfall or water vapor liquefaction. When combined with Flame Charge, these two were enough to start a fire and create drinking water for living in the wilderness. As for its attacking power, sadly, there was none. Wind Bulwark, Wind Repulsion, Wind Agility and the Brute Force of Wind shared the same source. Flame Charge was a fire spell, Water Drops Condensation was a water spell, whereas these four were wind spells. According to Richard¡¯s research, air currents played an important role in them. For example, the Wind Bulwark could condense air and quickly form an impenetrable air wall to block attacks. Wind Repulsion could condense air and use it to hit the enemy rapidly. It resembled a strong wind blowing towards the enemy, making him retreat uncontrollably. Wind Agility could condense air and strengthen the lower limbs, thereby increasing the bearer¡¯s speed and jumping range, as well as degreasing the weight to improve his agility. The Brute Force of Wind could condense air and strengthen the upper limbs, thereby increasing one¡¯s strength exponentially in order to throw sudden blows at the opponent. The reason why Richard had learned these spells was twofold. First, it was due to the effects this magic offered. Second and most importantly, he wanted to study their mechanism. Flame Charge was obviously the burning of combustibles and must conform with the law of conservation of energy. Water Drops Condensation was liquefaction, which meant that it had to conform with the laws of thermodynamics. Lastly, the four wind spells belonged to the category of fluid mechanics and must conform with the principles of fluid mechanics, such as the Prandtl-Glauert rule, the K¨¢rm¨¢n-Tsien equation, and so on. Richardhad had attempted to explain these spells in a scientific way and thus master them. The end result had been that the spells cast by Richard were not as rigid as the ones in The Writings of Monroe. For example, the Wind Bulwark Spell recorded in The Writings of Monroe was merely a compressed air wall of around one meter long and 40 cm thick. However, Richard could create a super-compressed air wall, which was around two meters long, two meters wide, and two meters thick. It could even change into a spherical or cylindrical shape. Another example was Wind Repulsion. The instructions in The Writings of Monroe were to compress a fixed volume of air and attack the enemy with it, which would make him retreat. But after using science to modify this, Richard could vary the quantity of compressed air to achieve the desired effect. He could even stack several Wind Repulsion Spells together and convert them into one Powerful Wind Repulsion or an Extreme Wind Repulsion. It was true that these were still Zero-ring Spells, but Richard could wield them to unleash greater effects. Richard also believed that more could be done if he were to continue researching them. In a flash, more than a month had passed yet again. When the first yellow leaf in the birch forest outside Blue Lion City fell on the ground, the black coffin of King Donners was being carried out of the city. The weather was gloomy and rainy, just like the day he had died¡­ Three days ago. The sky was dim. When the silky autumn rain fell, it resembled the prickling of needles, hitting people with bone-piercing coldness. This marked the end of the hot summer season and the beginning of autumn. Seemingly due to the weather, the atmosphere in the entire kingdom had been sullen since morning, as if something was mounting and waiting to happen. The falling autumn rain and the sudden drop in temperature made everyone hide in their homes. The large palace was also extremely cold and quiet. Amid the silence, Richard was carrying out his experiments. A beaker had been placed into a jar of water to heat it up with a water bath. The boiling water in the jar made a gurgling sound as a large amount of steam emerged. As Richard watched by the side, he heard faint sounds coming from outside. The first sound of sudden crying and panic came from the king¡¯s palace. Soon, it spread throughout the entire palace and then to Blue Lion City. Boom, boom, boom. Someone knocked on the door of his private laboratory hurriedly. Richard frowned and shouted, ¡°Come in.¡± Immediately afterwards, Edward stumbled in. Right on his heels was old Butler Deron, who wore a sorrowful expression. ¡°Your- Your Highness, bad- bad news,¡± Edward said breathlessly. Butler Deron, who was behind him, said, ¡°His Majesty, he¡ª¡± Before he could finish his words, Richard had already raised his hand. He then said expressionlessly, ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Then¡ª¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Butler Deron turned around and led the way. Richard took a glance at the heating liquid. At last, he followed them out of the laboratory and the palace. Under the cold autumn rain, they walked through the square and entered the bedroom in the king¡¯s palace. The room was already empty, and so was the wine cabinet in the corner. Some furniture had also been removed. King Donners¡¯s corpse was lying on a bed in the middle of the room. His skin had turned purple-dark, he had been dead for some time. At that moment, someone else was by the window, Prince William, who had rushed here once he had heard the news. His head was leaning on the bed, and his shoulders were shaking. There was no sound, so no one could tell if he was crying or laughing. When he appeared to hear them, William looked up. With tears on his face, he looked at Richard and said in a hoarse voice, ¡°Brother, Father, he is gone.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Richard replied, showing neither sadness nor joy on his face. William was visibly stunned, seemingly surprised at Richard¡¯s calmness. He wanted to say something but he eventually didn¡¯t. He turned his head and placed it on the bed again, saying repeatedly, ¡°Father, Father.¡± Standing by the side, Richard stared¡­ as if he was watching a joke. After a while, the encoffiner arrived and began to tidy up King Donner¡¯s appearance, including trimming his hair, washing his body, and putting on his clothes and armor. The rest of the attendants also began to prepare the mourning hall. They either removed all the mirrors or covered them with black cloth. They extinguished the fire in the fireplace, opened all the doors, windows and locks, untied all knots and lit the candles. Under such circumstances, William and Richard had to leave the room. As such, the two stood at the entrance of the palace. A gust of cold wind blew. William tightened his clothes and turned to look at Richard. His voice was still hoarse when he spoke, ¡°Brother, Father is dead, we¡ª¡± Richard did not respond. He looked at the constant drizzle in the sky and said, ¡°The weather is getting colder, you should wear more clothes.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± William was astonished. He soon realized that Richard merely seemed to be kindly reminding him, and he nodded, ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to rain,¡± Richard said again as if he had not finished speaking. However, he did not continue speaking. Shaking his head, he stepped into the dense rainfall. ¡°I will attend the burial.¡± A voice came from the rain. Staring at him, William opened and closed his mouth a few times. At last, he shut his mouth and did not utter a word. Chapter 27 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Three days later. The sky was still dark. Grey clouds filled the sky, and it was raining constantly. The world was black, bleak and lifeless. The coffin was also black, and it was being carried by soldiers to the cemetery outside the city. Behind the coffin, a long line of people followed. At the front were naturally the two princes, William and Richard, followed by the aristocrats of Blue Lion City and some overlords, who had rushed to Blue Lion Kingdom from various places. The atmosphere was solemn and grave. The big group walked on the muddy road with difficulty, but no one spoke a word. They were surrounded by the splashing sounds of the cold rain hitting the ground. Seemingly mourning for King Donners, the rain had continued for three entire days, and the temperature had dropped more than 10 ¡ãC. Those among the retinue kept exhaling white vapor through their mouths and noses. It was destined to be an excruciating funeral. The funeral continued, and the team marched to the cemetery. In a clearing in the birch forest, surrounded by large yellow leaves, the coffin was carefully lowered into a dug tomb. The priest began to give the eulogy. Soil, followed by petals, was thrown into the tomb. ¡°You are being poured libation. Your time to leave the world has come. Pour, pour, pour. ¡°You have put up a good fight. At the end of the road, you kept your faith. Pour, pour, pour. ¡°From now on, you will bear the crown of righteousness, and the supreme glory will remain. Pour, pour, pour. ¡°The world will remember your greatness, the earth will preserve your body, and the sky will accommodate your soul. Pour, pour, pour. ¡°You will become eternity.¡± Pour, pour, pour. During the eulogy, the tomb was filled up bit by bit. Some soldiers took a large piece of turf and laid it on top to ensure that plants grew on the tomb, so that it would not be a barren place. After everything, the retinue stepped forward to place the flowers in their hands in front of the tombstone, expressing their condolences. Soon, the entire cemetery became splendorous. At the end of the funeral, some people closed their eyes in front of the tombstone, whispered something, and reminisced about the life of King Donners. Others left quietly. Prince William had been keeping vigil by the tombstone. After putting down a bouquet of flowers, someone walked slowly to his side, lowered his head and whispered, ¡°Your Highness, everything is ready.¡± Without a word, William looked at Richard, who was standing in the distance. After a pause, he murmured, ¡°Rinck, do you think I will make a good king? Will I fare better than my father?¡± ¡°Of course!¡± the other party agreed. ¡°Are you the only one that thinks this? Or does everyone think the same?¡± Prince William asked. ¡°Your Highness, it¡¯s everyone! Everyone thinks that you will be a better king than King Donners,¡± the man replied. ¡°Phew,¡± William let out a breath. His eyes flickered, and he turned his head to him and merely said one word, ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The man¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up. The funeral was over, so Richard returned to the palace. His Chief Bodyguard, Edward, led the entire team of bodyguards and escorted Richard back. Edward was taken aback as soon as he entered the palace. He stared at the empty hall and couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Where- where are the p- people?¡± The servants who usually sat in the hall to make the research materials for Richard were all gone. Richard said softly, ¡°I have given them a long holiday.¡± ¡°What?¡± Edward was still stunned. Richard walked into the laboratory, and Edward followed him closely. Richard took out a black wooden box and began to put various drugs and some small apparatuses for experiments into it. As he did this, he said, ¡°My honorable father, His Majesty King Donners, is dead. My dear brother, His Highness William, is about to become the new king. I should leave too.¡± ¡°Is His Highness going to the duchy?¡± Edward asked. Actually, Richard¡¯s duchy had not been determined yet, and it was too early to start packing. Richard said noncommittally, ¡°I¡¯m going on a trip, I have to dress lightly. Since I can¡¯t take them with me, I let them take a leave.¡± Richard continued to pack up his belongings. After tidying up the laboratory, he went to the bedroom on the second floor to clean up. Edward continued to follow him. He placed The Writings of Monroe and some scrolls into the box. But suddenly, he heard the sound of uneven and countless footsteps outside. It wasn¡¯t just a few dozen, but hundreds. Hundreds of soldiers had besieged the entire palace. Unfazed, Richard glanced out the window and averted his gaze. He continued packing. However, Edward¡¯s pupils constricted, and he gasped, ¡°Your Highness, these people- these people seem to be under Prince William. It seems that he¡¯s going to harm you!¡± The next moment, without waiting for Richard¡¯s order, Edward had already shouted at all the bodyguards, ¡°Guard all entrances and exits of the palace. Don¡¯t let them enter, protect His Highness!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The bodyguards scuffled around in panic and nervousness. They guarded every entrance and exit tightly. In his bedroom, Richard wore a stoic expression as he placed one item after another into the wooden box. Seeing Richard keep his composure, Edward couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Your Highness, I will shield you. Please rush out. Although I don¡¯t know why Prince William is doing this, there¡¯s still a chance to leave when it¡¯s not too many people.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Wait a while more,¡± Richard said. He turned round and, with his back facing Edward, he took down some books and scrolls from the shelf. As he stared at Richard¡¯s back, Edward was dazed, but his expression then turned complicated. He exhaled a long breath. There was a flash in his eyes, and he bit his lips till blood oozed out. His hand fell on the hilt of the long sword at his waist. More than a month ago. A simple dinner was taking place in Prince William¡¯s palace. While William talked, a man beside him listened intently. The light was dim, and his face could not be seen clearly. William¡¯s voice suddenly became serious. ¡°I called you here because I want to be a good brother, and I want to ensure his safety. No matter what he does, follow his wishes so long as he doesn¡¯t go overboard. At the same time, I also want to be a good king and protect this kingdom well.¡± The man was stunned. As his entire body leaned forward, he was exposed to the candlelight, revealing his face¡ªgolden hair, the face of a young man in his twenties, one full of kindness and seemingly capable of destroying all evil, wearing an expression of utmost seriousness and respect¡ªEdward Angele. ¡°If I have to choose between being a good king and a good brother, I will choose the former. At first, there was no conflict between us. But my younger brother is too smart, and I¡¯m very scared. ¡°He¡¯s not interested in power and does not want to be a king. Because of this, I now have the opportunity to be king, but what if¡­ what if he suddenly becomes interested one day? My father asked me to give him a large territory and enough freedom. In that case, I would never know what he is doing in his territory. ¡°I¡¯m really afraid that someday, when I wake up, he has already led a powerful army to the city, breached the palace, and thrusted a sword through my neck. I think he would kill me like a chicken, without even blinking his eyes. ¡°He is very cold-blooded, and he has been like this since he was a child. He called me his dear brother and called father His Majesty, the king. However, behind his politeness there is extreme alienation. He never saw himself as a brother or son, but a stranger. ¡°It is true that this ¡®stranger¡¯ did not do anything out of the ordinary. Everything he does is within the law, but I don¡¯t feel safe. His indifference to life really scares me. Three years ago, when blood was flowing all over his palace, his expression didn¡¯t even change a bit. He just stared calmly, and it was the same during his six months of imprisonment. ¡°Someone like him is too terrifying. And¡­ I was the one who personally ordered that deadly attack three years ago. Who knows when he will confirm his suspicions and take revenge? ¡°Phew. So you have to do one thing for me: find the opportunity to kill him. I will create opportunities for you, but you have to do the hard work yourself. As long as this is done, I won¡¯t cause trouble between the two sides of your family. I will guarantee the safety and interests of your family. No matter what, do a good job! Also, Mia told me to say hello to you on her behalf.¡± Edward¡¯s expression changed a few times as he heard this. He then replied firmly, ¡°Yes!¡± Chapter 28 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios He drew the sword in silence, one centimeter, two centimeters¡­ 10 centimeters. But the sword was suddenly sheathed back in. After he finished tidying the bookshelf, Richard turned around and looked at Edward. Edward gave him a puzzled look. Richard did not speak and just stared meaningfully. Edward slowly asked, ¡°Y- Your Highness, w- what¡¯s up¡± ¡°Did you know, Edward?¡± Richard asked. ¡°What?¡± ¡°In my eyes, you¡¯re a typical medieval nobleman.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Edward was stunned for a second before he bowed his head. ¡°No, I- I¡¯m just Your Highness¡¯ loyal Chief Bodyguard.¡± ¡°Whatever you say. But no matter who you are, you will always put your family¡¯s interests first.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Edward stopped talking. Richard waved his hand and said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with this. Only with the existence of noblemen like you, who constantly work hard, and even sacrifice themselves for their family, can a family rise to power. Well, it can be considered as doing something worthy. But the problem is you are not smart enough.¡± ¡°This¡ª¡± Edward opened his lips, his expression slightly flustered. ¡°More than a month ago, you applied for a leave of absence to visit your family. I allowed it. However, I knew that you did not leave the palace, that you went to William¡¯s palace.¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± Edward¡¯s eyelids twitched. He was really panicking now. ¡°You agreed to William¡¯s request to kill me at the dinner he hosted, and William also promised to protect your family¡¯s interests.¡± Richard continued, ¡°No matter how you look at it, this is a win-win deal. However, the question is: do you think William will really fulfill his promise, especially after you kill me?¡± ¡°This¡ª¡± ¡°Why do you think all the nobles are so active in choosing sides in royal politics? It¡¯s because they all know that the winners can feed on the losers and gain strength. Your family has placed bets on both of us, thinking that it is a smart and safe bet. However in reality, they won¡¯t be regarded as trustworthy by either party. ¡°After killing me, you will be charged with treason. Do you think William will do everything he can to protect your family, or will he give your family a gentle push into the abyss, throwing you to the greedy nobles who were on his side right from the beginning? ¡°In the case that he does, if William really keeps his promise to protect your family until his death, do you think that a new king can really do whatever he wants? In fact, he only has a few hundred soldiers, yet the number of all the private soldiers in Blue Lion City is ten times this number. When the greedy nobles are ready to enjoy the fruits of victory, can he stop them?¡± Edward panicked, his hands shaking. ¡°Your Highness, I- I was wrong, I- I shouldn¡¯t have listened to William¡¯s words, I shouldn¡¯t have considered harming you, I¡ª¡± ¡°You were indeed wrong.¡± Richard shook his head. ¡°However, it wasn¡¯t wrong to try to kill me. Your mistake was that your family has been using petty tricks from the beginning. It¡¯s better to take one side, or remain neutral in royal politics, rather than trying to side with both. ¡°Royal politics are a gamble. Have you ever seen a gamble that is 100 % certain? So no matter how hard you work, your family¡¯s fate won¡¯t change. Strategic mistakes cannot be made up with tactical efforts. When your family chose to support me as the crown prince, sending you to serve as my Chief Bodyguard, yet at the same time they took your sister to William, their fates were decided. ¡°All I can do is give my condolences. After all, wisdom and foresight are hard to come by. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m leaving and, of course, I¡¯m not going to my lands. I never really considered securing a territory. I will leave Blue Lion City and Blue Lion Kingdom. I want to see what is going on in this world, study, and figure out the laws that reign here. As for you and your family, work hard and try to win in royal politics, perhaps there will be a chance.¡± After that, Richard effortlessly lifted the heavy box and directly walked out. Edward stood absent-mindedly in the bedroom. He slowly dropped to the ground and covered his face with his hands, his whole body shaking. Edward suddenly raised his head again with a desperate and crazy look in his eyes and said to himself, ¡°What if what William said is true, what if¡­¡± Edward drew his sword and was about to go out. However, he suddenly retreated. The bedroom door opened, and Richard, who had left, was back. Boom. He placed the heavy wooden box on the ground, glanced at Edward and slowly said, ¡°Well, I thought I would leave calmly, but when I went downstairs, I realized there is one thing that I still cannot get over and that is¡­ betrayal.¡± Edward¡¯s pupils shrank. This seemed to provoke him, and he roared, ¡°It wasn¡¯t my intention! My whole family placed half of their hopes on you, what can I do? I must try to salvage the situation. ¡°I gave you advice time and again. If you¡¯d taken my advice and did your job, with your abilities, you could have definitely defeated William, and I wouldn¡¯t have had to betray you! ¡°But when have you taken my advice?! You¡¯re always studying about wizards and some weird things. Other than the torture you went through three years ago, what did you gain from it? Even if I don¡¯t kill you, what can you do? Can you really leave?! ¡°Damn it! When my family made me and Mia, that bastard, choose between the two of you, I should have chosen to go to William¡¯s side, not to your side. Everything would be different now. It would have been Mia, my bastard sister, who betrayed you. I don¡¯t care if she dies! I don¡¯t care!¡± Richard smiled dangerously. ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, Lord Edward, my dear Chief Bodyguard. Sometimes reality is so cruel. If you made a mistake, nothing can be undone. I hope that if you and your family have another chance, you will be smarter. ¡°Of course, if you had been steadfast about your choice, there would have actually been some compensation for you. I actually planned to compensate for your family¡¯s loss and arrange a good position for you. However, you are not truly loyal to me, so you must prepare for the worst outcome.¡± Richard approached him without hesitation, his lips opening and closing quickly, as if he was chanting something. Edward looked at the unarmed Richard. He breathed heavily and gritted his teeth, about to thrust his sword. ¡°You are at fault for everything that has happened. It has nothing to do with me!¡± Yet Edward could merely watch as Richard waved his hand and a powerful air current slammed into him, as though there was a violent windstorm in the room. Although he was wearing an iron armor, he staggered backward and almost fell on the floor under the influence of that strong force. The Wind Repulsion Spell. ¡°This¡ª¡± Edward was surprised. When Richard approached again, he was still opening and closing his lips quickly. Edward grasped the sword with all his strength and tried to pierce Richard¡¯s abdomen. However, his eyes widened as he felt the word seemingly cut something in the air, as if it had cut through an extremely viscous liquid. Richard was right in front of him. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not stab him. It was extremely difficult to even pull out the sword, which seemed to be trapped by some mysterious force. The Wind Bulwark Spell. ¡°What¡ª¡± Edward¡¯s sight turned blurry. Before he knew it, Richard had already reached him, pressed his shoulders with both hands and clamped his head. ¡°Edward, the reason why I don¡¯t want to fight for the crown is because I really have important things to do. It¡¯s very interesting, as interesting as what you see now. That¡¯s why I have no regrets. All I can say is I¡¯m sorry. I chose this path myself, and I will never regret it. Hopefully, it¡¯s the same for you.¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± ¡°Goodbye, Lord Edward, my Chief Bodyguard.¡± Crack! Edward felt an unstoppable force in his neck, and his entire head suddenly rotated 180 ¡ã, twisting it completely. The Brute Force of Wind Spell. Is this how my back looks? This was the last thought Edward had before his vision quickly dimmed and he fell dead to the ground with a bang. Richard looked at Edward¡¯s body, his eyes flashing. He took a breath, turned and walked out of the bedroom. Chapter 29 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios When Richard walked down the stairs and entered the hall on the first floor, all the bodyguards were still guarding the entrances and exits. They were very vigilant and nervous, lest the people outside suddenly launched an attack. After all, there were only more than 20 of them, it would be difficult to resist an attack of more than ten times the number of enemies. They did not know what had happened in the bedroom just now, much less the reason for the current turn of events. They were merely paid a salary to protect with their lives something unknown. Upon seeing Richard, a bodyguard stepped forward and said in a low voice, ¡°Your Highness, the people outside mean to harm you. A lot of archers are aiming at the gate of the palace. Your Highness, you must not be within their range, or it could get dangerous. Oh, right, where is Captain Edward?¡± The bodyguard sounded uncertain toward the end. Richard looked at him, and his eyes flashed. ¡°Your captain betrayed me, so I killed him.¡± ¡°Ah!¡± The bodyguard¡¯s eyes widened instantly. ¡°What¡ª¡± ¡°In other words, even your captain betrayed me for half of his family¡¯s interests. In fact,¡± Richard said softly, ¡°you don¡¯t have to protect me at all. There is no need, and it makes no sense. All of you should leave.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± The bodyguard opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, but in the end he gritted his teeth and said, ¡°No, I will always protect Your Highness, till my death.¡± ¡°Huh? Why? Is it worth it?¡± Richard asked. The bodyguard was speechless. He was not a nobleman, he was just the son of a farmer. He was illiterate and could not find the words to explain what he felt. He gasped and said, ¡°I- I don¡¯t know, but I- I understand that it would be wrong to leave now. I- I don¡¯t know why Captain Edward betrayed Your Highness, but I- I will never betray Your Highness, even if I- I die.¡± ¡°Bill,¡± Richard said. The bodyguard trembled, a little surprised and shocked. In fact, he had not spoken to Richard before today, so he had not expected Richard to remember his name correctly. He quickly responded, ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°I have a task for you,¡± Richard said softly. ¡°Yes, Your Highness, I will make sure to complete the task.¡± The bodyguard hit his chest with his right fist and knelt down on one knee. ¡°You are now the Chief Bodyguard. There is a tunnel in the kitchen that leads directly to outside of the city. Although it¡¯s a bit tight, people can pass through it. Bring all the bodyguards and leave through the tunnel. Don¡¯t try to refuse, I already know that you are more loyal than Edward. ¡°However, being fiercely loyal does not mean to die, but to work hard through a humble and difficult life. It¡¯s meaningless to sacrifice for nothing. If you are really loyal to me, escape and survive. Perhaps in the future, I will find you and give you a purpose. Hopefully, you will not have forgotten me by then.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± The soldier named Bill stared at Richard. ¡°Then, isn¡¯t Your Highness coming with us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s harder to walk through the tunnel. I prefer to leave through the front door. Of course, don¡¯t worry about me, I have made my own arrangements. Also, I wish to speak to someone,¡± Richard said, tapping the bodyguard¡¯s shoulders. He then turned and walked out of the palace, his gaze sharpening. Outside, long spears lined with raised swords waited in dreadful silence. However, many soldiers were slightly taken aback when they saw Richard come out. They had a puzzled expression on their faces, as this was different from the orders they had received. Richard saw it in their eyes and said, ¡°William, come out. If you don¡¯t show up, your men won¡¯t dare to attack. After all, I guess you definitely hadn¡¯t given the order to kill the prince, but to kill the Chief Bodyguard who betrayed the prince, am I right?¡± The crowd parted, and the new king, William, appeared wearing a beautiful golden robe with various colorful patterns, inlaid with gems of different sizes. At that moment, William¡¯s expression was not angry but mighty. After walking out, he looked at Richard for a moment and suddenly smiled. ¡°My dear brother, you came out alive. Did Edward betray yet again? Not only did he betray you, but he betrayed me too? Tsk, I find it odd. How did you convince him?¡± William narrowed his eyes. ¡°Very simple. I killed him,¡± Richard said calmly. William¡¯s pupils shrank slightly, yet his expression remained calm. ¡°You already knew that he had betrayed you? You no longer trusted him, so you ordered the other bodyguards to kill him? It makes sense as well. After all, with his poor fighting skills, I¡¯m afraid he couldn¡¯t have defeated an ordinary bodyguard. But I must say, you are very sharp and smart. ¡°But then again, no matter how smart you are, you didn¡¯t imagine it would end like this, my dear brother?¡± William¡¯s tone changed slightly. ¡°Actually, I had been ready for this for a long time.¡± Richard still looked calm. ¡°Im-po-ssi-ble!¡± William glared at him, emphasizing each syllable to make his point. ¡°Heh,¡± Richard said, ¡°should I explain it to you? Actually, I know more than you think. For example, I knew it was you who spread the rumor three years ago. Yes, it was you who made my respected father, the former King Donners, doubt me and think I was making voodoo dolls to curse him. ¡°Then there was that palace massacre. Almost everyone, no matter their rank, was killed. Hundreds of lives were taken. Their blood stained the square in front of my palace, and I was imprisoned for six months. Huh. ¡°I guess you were arrogant and felt relieved back then, thinking that I would no longer be qualified to fight for the throne. Even if I had really been after the throne, that incident would have driven a wedge between my respected father, His Majesty King Donners, and me. However, the problem is that from the beginning I had no wish to fight with you. I told you that I had very important things to do, but what happened three years ago made me even more certain of my wish to leave. ¡°To be honest, if I hadn¡¯t been a prince in this world, but the heir of a small nobleman, maybe things would have been better. Being a prince is a very high position, many people are watching. There are many responsibilities that come with this position, and I don¡¯t like bearing these responsibilities. In order to do what I want to do properly, leaving is the best choice. I will leave the palace, Blue Lion City, and the entire Blue Lion Kingdom.¡± William stopped speaking and looked at Richard with a strange expression. ¡°You¡­¡± After a long pause, he took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, ¡°Even if you say that, I won¡¯t let you leave.¡± Chapter 30 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios ¡°Of course, I know you won¡¯t let me go,¡± Richard said. ¡°Because once I leave, you won¡¯t have the perfect excuse anymore. If my guess is right, you were going to besiege the palace using the excuse that Edward had betrayed and killed me. After I died, you would have declared that because of what happened three years ago, I sought vengeance and had poisoned my dear father, His Majesty, the former King Donners. Like this you could justify everything, and you would have become the only master of Blue Lion Kingdom.¡± William¡¯s face was slightly stiff. He looked at Richard, as if he had met him for the first time, a trace of panic flashing across his calm face. ¡°You¡­ How do you¡ª¡± ¡°How do I know? Oh, that¡¯s because what you did was so obvious. I¡¯ve known for a long time that His Majesty, the former King Donners, was not sick, but being poisoned. The poison that you put in the wine you sent must have been arsenic trioxide. ¡°However, I think you should sentence the pharmacist who was in charge of this to death, because he did not do a good job. The poison he put into the wine wasn¡¯t pure at all. ¡°Generally speaking, arsenic is composed of arsenic trioxide, which is colorless and tasteless, making it an excellent poison. Considering the backward development of this world, there is always some amount of sulfur and sulfide during extraction, and this is why the silverware used would turn black. But it¡¯s not a big issue. After all, the former king did not like to use silver cups. The problem is that, apart from having impurities like sulfur and sulfide, the poison that was mixed into wine had elemental arsenic in it. ¡°As a result, His Majesty, the former King Donners, had obvious symptoms of arsenic poisoning, like skin pigmentation, Raynaud¡¯s disease, etc. ¡°I have no idea how sloppy the pharmacist you hired is, but I will give you a piece of advice. If you are sick in the future, don¡¯t take his medicine.¡± ¡°Since you knew about it, why didn¡¯t you stop me? Did you hate him so much?!¡± William asked. ¡°Oh, as the murderer, you still accuse me of being a bystander?¡± Richard asked rhetorically. ¡°I¡­¡± William was speechless. ¡°Okay, let me explain it briefly,¡± Richard said. ¡°I know you killed the king because you are ambitious, and you couldn¡¯t wait to become the new king. The reason why I did not save him is because I have no feelings for him anymore. Yes, I have no feelings for him at all. ¡°I knew you were the one who had led the massacre three years ago, but the king¡¯s handling of the matter also chilled my heart. I witnessed how someone could be so obstinate, ignorant, arrogant, and unrepentant. ¡°Have you heard about the concept of the family of origin? That is, the family in which a person is born and raised. If there is a harmonious atmosphere in the family of origin and the parents are rational and positive, the children will develop better. On the contrary, if there is a bad atmosphere and the parents have many shortcomings, their children will be affected too. ¡°This factor can have a lifelong influence on the children. For example, assertive parents will inevitably raise cowardly children, and controlling parents will inevitably raise overly dependent children. Yet children often think that they themselves are to be blamed for their shortcomings, leading to a low self-esteem. ¡°The scariest thing in this world is that parents do not need to take an exam to be parents, it doesn¡¯t matter if they are qualified or not. I became a prince without a choice, and the king also became my father. Although I did have some advantage at the starting point, I must say that the king¡­ was not a good father. If I were an ordinary person, I might have gladly accepted everything, but I am not. ¡°Some people think that it¡¯s normal for parents to manage their children as if they are managing properties, and that children have to obey their parents. But I beg to differ. I¡¯m an independent person with my own thinking and opinion, so if my family of origin had been good-natured, I would have tried to integrate. However, since it wasn¡¯t the case, I chose to be rid of them. ¡°In other words, if a baby with no cognition meets the parents, for good or bad, the baby ends up being controlled by them due to his limited abilities. But if an adult, who has good moral values, meets his parents and realizes that they are villains who are stubborn, crazy, arrogant, violent and often unreasonable, he has the choice of escaping. Now do you understand?¡± William could not quite understand Richard¡¯s words, but his expression turned ugly. He raised his head to glance at Richard, very serious. ¡°My brother, Richard, you are really smart¡­ to the extent of being frightening. I indeed couldn¡¯t kill you. But after what you just said today, I am more motivated to end you. ¡°I don¡¯t care about why you¡¯re so smart, or why you know so many things, but you must die. Because if you remain alive, I will never sleep well. William closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be in this world. Your existence is a disaster to everyone around you. Ever since you were a child, the people you came in contact with¡ªwhether it was me, our father, the maids, or the soldiers¡ªeveryone was somewhat afraid of you. It was as if you could see through everyone¡¯s thoughts. ¡°I know you have been researching wizards. Although you have yet to succeed in your research, a legendary wizard may be just like you, so I changed my mind. I will not say that you poisoned our father, instead I will tell everyone that you have become an evil wizard. Since you are an evil wizard, you must die.¡± Swoosh. William raised his hand and shouted to the archers. ¡°Shoot him!¡± The archers trembled and looked at each other, no one moved. After all, the person in front of them was the second prince of the kingdom, the future Grand Duke. They were mere soldiers, and their conversation just now¡­ However, William¡¯s mighty presence was not to be undermined. Realizing that the archers weren¡¯t moving, he unsheathed his sword with a clang and said coldly, ¡°I order all of you to shoot him! If you don¡¯t, all of you shall die.¡± Swipe, swipe, swipe. At William¡¯s order, the archers raised their longbows and notched their arrows. ¡°Shoot!¡± Whoosh. Amid William¡¯s roar, arrows shot out like migratory locusts, aimed directly at Richard, who was tens of meters away. At this distance, even if Richard had been wearing a plate armor, he would have not been able to avoid the arrows, much less with the robe that he wore now. However, Richard did not panic over the many arrows shooting at him. His lips slightly opened and closed, and a large mass of air in front of him surged and solidified the next moment. Whoosh. The tails of the arrows vibrated in a regular motion. Yet as the arrows got closer and closer to Richard, suddenly, they slowed down. They became slower and slower, as if they had encountered some obstacle or entered an invisible force field. After a while, when all their force was depleted, the arrows remained suspended in the air. One arrow, two arrows, three arrows. In the end, nearly a hundred arrows stood still half a meter in front of Richard, but Richard was unscathed. The Wind Bulwark Spell. ¡°What the¡­¡± The archers¡¯ eyes widened, and William slowly opened his mouth. ¡°This- this¡­¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that I¡¯m an evil wizard and therefore you have to kill me? Well, in a sense, you are right. I¡¯m indeed a wizard, but to be more accurate, I am an Apprentice Wizard.¡± ¡°Shoot him! Shoot the arrows! Shoot him now!¡± The voice came from deep within William¡¯s throat, roaring with an indescribable fear. Swipe, swipe, swipe. The archers raised their longbows with shaking arms and notched the arrows with difficulty before finally shooting with a high angle. Whoosh! One after the other, arrows arced and fell from the air. Some of them directly bounced off, while some of them continued to penetrate into the invisible barrier, and then stopped again. A large number of arrows was suspended on top of Richard¡¯s head. The site turned deadly silent. An autumn rain fell, the raindrops hitting everyone. A soul-shaking coldness covered them, and they felt chilled to the bones. As soon as Richard waved his hand, the air around him returned to normal. The arrows that had been suspended in the air fell to the ground with a loud crack, breaking the silence and disturbing the autumn rain. Many soldiers were frantic. A ball of green flames appeared in Richard¡¯s hands and burned quietly in the rain. Richard then raised his hand, and the green flames suddenly rose into the air, higher and higher, until they finally expanded into a large fireball with a diameter of one meter. It exploded in a puff, as if it was sending a signal. Richard waved his hand again and hurled a ball of bloody flames toward William. Before anyone could react, it struck William¡¯s face, licking his hair, eyebrows, and gorgeous robe. The flames rose, and William let out a scream of horror. He suddenly fell on the ground, rolling around to extinguish the flame. The soldiers were flustered. They looked at Richard and had the urge to put down their weapons. Although Richard hadn¡¯t killed a single person, nor showed powerful attacks, no one knew how many more terrifying spells the prince was capable of. The unknown was the most terrifying of all. Richard took a step forward slowly, and all the soldiers immediately retreated in panic like an ebbing tide. Richard smiled. William was rolling on the ground while yelling in fright. In the distance, outside the palace, a black carriage approached quickly. The wheels spun across the green-stoned pavement, making a thunderous sound. Boom! Boom! Chapter 31 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Boom! Boom! Amid the loud booming noises, a black four-wheeled horse carriage was closing in on the palace. The driver was a brawny man clad in black clothing, bulging with a full set of chain mail underneath. Upon a closer look, he was the third steward of the KGB store. There were many brawny men dressed similarly in the horse carriage. Their gazes were calm and slightly excited, since they were about to execute a critical mission. The brawny driver in black kept whipping the horses to make the carriage go as fast as possible. At the same time, he shouted to his companions in the carriage, ¡°You all know the key to this mission very well: speed! We must get Prince Richard as fast as we can and then quickly withdraw our troops. We must clear every obstacle we might encounter at all costs. Now, let¡¯s check the equipment!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The brawny men started moving immediately, and they began to inspect the packages of various sizes around them. These packages contained several technological weapons that were ahead of the times. For example, there were war knives made of special alloys, crossbows capable of shooting accurately even at a range of more than 200 meters, and powerful yellow powder explosives. Boom. Boom. As the carriage moved, the brawny driver in black suddenly noticed something and looked up. His eyes widened and he gaped. ¡°What¡­¡± Meanwhile, in the palace, all of William¡¯s soldiers were staring at the sky with shocked expressions. ¡°Thi- this¡­¡± Frowning slightly, Richard also looked up, and his eyes narrowed. A large shadow swept across the sky without warning, and a terrifying monster suddenly roared and landed. Both its wings flapped slowly as it bent its neck slightly and opened its mouth. Richard immediately remembered the large blurry shadow he had seen several times during astral projection, when his consciousness had been drifting in the night sky. This¡­ Roar. There was an earth-shattering roar. The shadow spewed an enormous ball of scorching flames, which spread all over the palace like lava, making the raindrops in the sky boil away in steam. Building after building caught fire. Under the dim sky, the flames flickered and reflected the stupefied faces of the people. A dragon had appeared unexpectedly, crashing in the middle of the palace without a warning. ¡°Dragon! It¡¯s a dragon!¡± someone yelled. Everyone then started to scream and dispersed like wildfire, fleeing anxiously in all directions. At that moment, there was no longer a difference between a prince or a soldier. Under the flames of the massive fire-spouting dragon, everyone ran as fast as they could, like fleeing bugs. Richard did not know where the soldiers had taken his brother, but the entire square soon became empty. The palace behind him was burning. Richard squinted his eyes and sized up the dragon circling in the sky. The dragon continued to wreak havoc, spewing large balls of flames and igniting various parts of the palace. The creature was spreading fear in all directions. Richard¡¯s eyes flashed. It was obviously a Western dragon, one of the magical creatures recorded in The Writings of Monroe. It had a body similar to a lizard, with wings on its back, and it looked at everything with its enormous eyes and vertical slit pupils, opening its mouth from time to time to spout flames. ¡°This is interesting,¡± Richard said. However, he squinted his eyes the next moment. His vision suddenly blurred, and the dragon swooped down suddenly. As the creature dived, he felt the air around him rise forcefully, his robe rustling. The next moment¡­ In the palace. The soldiers had calmed down after much difficulty, and they were fetching water to fight the fire. A few soldiers were carrying the unconscious William and shouting repeatedly, ¡°Doctor, the king has fainted! Doctor, hurry here!¡± Outside Blue Lion City, in the courtyard of an abandoned village, bodyguards crawled out of the tunnel, one after the other. Bill glanced at the palace and saw the flames getting higher and higher. His eyes flickered, and he muttered, ¡°Your Highness.¡± In Blue Lion City. On the green-stoned pavement, the carriage had already stopped. The brawny driver in black stared at the flying black shadow and the black spot on its back. He cursed, ¡°Damn! The dragon has taken His Highness away!¡± ¡°What- what should we do then?¡± The brawny men in the carriage were stunned. ¡°What can we do? Follow the strategy Prince Richard prepared and implement the fourth plan.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Puff, puff, puff. The dragon flapped its wings and flew higher. Richard was sitting on the dragon¡¯s back and inspecting some gadgets in his suitcase. Although some of these objects were small, they had amazing powers. Some of them could be modified for a high-altitude gliding escape. After inspecting them, Richard felt slightly more at ease. Although the dragon under him had not shown ill intentions, he was still used to finding ways to protect himself. Glancing at it, Richard recalled what the dragon had just said, and his eyes flickered. ¡°Gregory, right? Well, you said you kidnapped me to find a playmate for your daughter. That doesn¡¯t sound like a good reason, right?¡± Roar! The dragon did not answer and kept flying higher and higher. The temperature began to drop. Richard heaved a sigh of relief. He glanced at the dragon and tried to get some other answers. ¡°How can you fly?¡± The dragon was silent. Richard began to guess. His gaze fell on the entire body of the dragon, and he stared at its wings for a while. He shook his head. As a rule, a living creature or thing could not fly on its own even if they wanted. There had to be some logic and science to it. In order to fly, one had to possess either a special body structure, like a bird, or a unique power source like an airplane or a rocket. In terms of appearance, the dragon obviously did not conform to the special body structure of birds. In order for birds to fly, all parts of their bodies had had to develop through evolution. For example, the feathers outside were not only to keep them warm, but also to form a streamlined shape that would reduce air resistance. Their bones were thin, light, hollow, and filled with air. The skull was fused, and so were the many other bones in their bodies. Their ribs had hooked protrusions to connect them together, which reduced weight and strengthened their flying. They also had special paired lungs and a simplified excretion system. All of this ensured that birds could fly with the least possible resistance, as they flaped the two wings that enabled them to soar the sky. In comparison, the dragon only had scales and no feathers. And in order to support its enormous body, its bones were completely solid, dense and strong. Its two wings only flappled occasionally, mainly for the purpose of adjusting height and direction. The resistance to gravity was negligible. Even if it were beating its wings, with the dragon¡¯s size and weight, it would have not been able to fly unless it reached a frequency of hundreds of flaps per second. However, the reality was that the dragon was flying smoothly in the sky. Richard pursed his lips. Could there be a special power source in its body? Something similar to the engine of an airplane? Well, he was not seeing a propeller and, obviously, there was no turboprop engine either. In that case, it could be something similar to a jet engine¡ªthe inner body pushing out gas at a high velocity constantly, forming a powerful force called thrust that enabled flying. Logically, the gas had to come out at the rear, meaning that¡­ Richard stood up suddenly, walked to the dragon¡¯s back and tried to look under its tail. Chapter 32 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios The dragon keenly sensed Richard¡¯s ill intentions and quickly swung its tail to block Richard¡¯s sight. Richard had no other choice but to look around as they flew. This was when he realized that the dragon did not produce any contrails. This was weird. Usually, if an airplane with jet engines traveled through the air, these engines would emit a high-temperature gas with a lot of water vapor in its wake. If the ambient temperature was relatively low, these high-temperature and high-humidity gases would mix with the surrounding air. Their temperature would drop rapidly, and the humidity around would increase sharply. These emissions would quickly condense to produce airplane contrails, which were like white streaks made of clouds. However, this phenomenon did not occur when the dragon was flying. It might be that the temperature in the air was not low enough, or it might be because the dragon was using an unknown third method to fly, such as¡­ a spell. According to The Writings of Monroe, among the high One-ring Spells, there were anti-gravity spells that could enable creatures to fly. In that case, the dragon was really¡­ Richard looked at the dragon and asked aloud, ¡°Gregory, can I ask you a question? Did you use your dragon breath or some kind of spell to spit fire just now? If you used a spell, does it mean that you are a spellcaster as well? ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then your internal body structures must be similar to wizards, with probably something like a magic source. So, did you use spells for your flight?¡± The dragon made a loud roar, but did not answer his question. Instead the dragon asked him, ¡°Kid named Richard, since you ask so many questions, can I ask you a question first?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes flashed as he listened to the dragon and nodded. ¡°Of course.¡± The dragon was about to speak. However, the next moment Richard said, ¡°Gregory, you just asked your first question.¡± ¡°¡­¡± There was a long silence. The dragon named Gregory seemed to be processing Richard¡¯s words, but it could also be that it was holding back from roaring at Richard. After a long while, it spoke again. ¡°Then can I ask you two questions?¡± Richard said, ¡°Sure, but¡­ that was the second question.¡± ¡°¡­ Then can I ask you four questions?!¡± ¡°Yes. But you have finished asking.¡± ¡°Nonsense, when did I? I obviously asked you three questions in total.¡± ¡°Right now.¡± After a long silence, Richard clearly felt Gregory¡¯s large body shake. In fact, Richard already knew what the other party wanted to ask, so he had done this deliberately because he did not want the dragon to succeed. However, in the face of setbacks, Gregory did not want to give up easily, and it simply shouted, ¡°Then can I ask you 10 questions?!¡± In Gregory¡¯s opinion, Richard had no other way to stop him. However Richard had a simple solution. He said softly, ¡°No.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Gregory roared, about to explode in anger. The creature had wanted to solve the problem politely at first, but right now, it could not be bothered anymore and simply shouted, ¡°Damn, kid named Richard, I don¡¯t care if you will do it or not, let me repeat, you are now my prisoner. I have kidnapped you! I want to take you to my daughter. If you dare disobey and talk nonsense, I will grill you before throwing you down from the sky. Understand?¡± Richard arched his eyebrows. Just when Gregory thought that Richard would behave himself, Richard slowly said, ¡°Actually, a person who is kidnapped should be called a hostage, or a victim. Prisoners are people who have been defeated, or who surrendered in a battle, and are captured by the enemy. They are two different concepts. ¡°Also, when you threaten someone, it usually involves a life threat. We only have one life. Even if you grill me and throw me from the sky, I won¡¯t die twice. So why do you make yourself do repetitive tasks? It would be easier for you if you chose one of these methods to threaten me. ¡°And also¡ª¡± ¡°Enough!¡± The creature roared again. At that moment, if he could, Gregory would not hesitate to cover its ears, but it could not. It could only roar to drown Richard¡¯s voice out. Gregory was now deeply regretting its actions. It should not have kidnapped Richard. Perhaps it would be a good choice to throw Richard down right away, so¡­ Gregory¡¯s eyes had pupils that looked like vertical slits. Its eyes turned slowly. In the afternoon. The red sun sunk below the western horizon. Gregory, the dragon, flew above a forest. ¡°Shut up! Shut up!¡± it roared. It had finally come up with a method to prevent Richard from speaking and asking questions, all it needed to do was to make sure that its voice was louder than Richard¡¯s. Richard, who sat on its back, looked a little helpless. His eyes flickered as he looked at the lush forest below, and he said to himself, ¡°Right now we must be thousands of miles away from Blue Lion Kingdom. I guess we are in some other kingdom or empire, which means¡ª¡± Roar. ¡°Shut up! Shut up!¡± it roared. ¡°¡­¡± Puff, puff, puff. Suddenly, Gregory flapped its wings and dived down. Richard turned his head and saw a hill standing in the forest. It was not at a high altitude, and there was a large black castle on the hill. ¡°Huh? Don¡¯t tell me the dragon doesn¡¯t live in a cave, but in a castle? Although it¡¯s different from what is said in the legends, it still¡­ seems reasonable¡ª¡± Roar. ¡°Shut up! Shut up!¡± it roared. ¡°¡­¡± Boom! Puff! Gregory¡¯s enormous body landed on top of the hill, its four limbs leaving large depression marks on the ground. The first thing it did after landing was to shake its body vigorously to throw Richard off its back. It would be good if Richard fell on the ground in a miserable state, as Gregory had revenge in mind. However, the creature was disappointed. With the help of Wind Agility, Richard took his suitcase and landed gently. Gregory glanced at him, turned its head with disdain, and shrunk its body. Richard was surprised to see the dragon transformed right in front of him into a male adult in his forties. His face looked a little sallow, however his muscles bulged beneath his clothes. He had strong muscles and exuded a powerful aura, with an awe-inspiring look in his eyes. ¡°Is that¡­ a transformation spell?¡± ¡°Cough, shut up!¡± Gregory said, rubbing his dry throat. In his human form, his voice was obviously not as loud as the dragon, so he could no longer drown Richard¡¯s voice out. So Richard started asking questions again. ¡°I suppose that when transforming from one living body to another, the body size and structures are completely different. And the most important thing is that the mass is also different, which means that it does not conform to the law of conservation of mass. I¡¯m afraid Lomonosov1 would not be able to stand it. Well¡ª¡± ¡°Shut up, kid,¡± Gregory yelled again, realizing that he could not stop Richard from speaking. He gave up and turned to the side, muttering, ¡°Just you wait, someone will make you behave.¡± Just when Richard thought that the other party was going to the black castle not far away, the male unexpectedly turned around and walked into a cave nearby. ¡°So¡­ it seems that dragons still live in caves?¡± Richard¡¯s eyes flickered. The prince frowned as he sensed something coming. He turned around abruptly and saw a slightly petite figure approaching from the foot of the mountain. Chapter 33 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios When Richard had sat on the dragon, Gregory, on their way here, he had been thinking about what the daughter that Gregory had mentioned would look like. He had originally thought that his daughter would be a relatively small dragon. Compared to Gregory¡¯s enormous fighter body, which was the size of a plane and more than ten meters long, his daughter might be four or five meters long and weigh several tons. Although he had imagined her as a small dragon, the creature was still more imposing than a giant crocodile. But just a moment ago, Gregory had transformed into a middle-aged strong man with a sallow complexion. This had led Richard to think that if his daughter took a human form, she would be a muscular girl with a height of about 1.7 meters, similar to a female weightlifter in modern times. Richard had not expected Gregory¡¯s daughter to be completely different. A petite girl came up from the foot of the mountain, slowly approaching them, and finally appearing fully in their line of sight. She was a human girl, only seven or eight years old. She was about 1.2 meters tall and was covered in purple. Her hair, as smooth as a lilac, was purple. Her clothes were purple and had a faint lavender fragrance. Her eyes were also purple. They were like two amethysts, crystal clear and transparent. Indeed, the pendant on her tender white neck and the bracelet on her slim wrist were also purple. They looked like purple stars that had fallen from the sky, shining brightly. She seemed to be like a girl who had come from a purple world. The purple girl¡ªPandora. However, compared to her appearance, the most striking part about her was the extremely cold aura she exuded. She seemed to be telling strangers to stay away. As she came closer, the expression in her eyes and the aura she exuded seemed to say one thing: Never mess with me or look at me, and don¡¯t approach me, let alone talk to me. Tap, tap, tap. The dragon girl named Pandora walked towards them, giving Richard an extremely cold glance. She then turned around and icily walked away into the black castle. Richard thought that she resembled one of the characters in Detective Conan¡ªa powerful girl named Ai Haibara. ¡°So do father and daughter live separately?¡± Richard muttered to himself as he stood in the same place. ¡°But your daughter is different from what I thought.¡± He then shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. He had been kidnapped and, if he was to be the playmate of such a young girl, it would be more complicated than he had thought. However, it was not important. The important thing right now was that he had to continue with his research and figure out the truth of this world. In other words, if there was even a dragon, there had to be many more magical things waiting for him here. In the evening. A bonfire had been lit in the open space between the black castle and the giant dragon cave, a large hare being grilled over it and cracking. The fat in the hare¡¯s meat oozed out bit by bit, flowing like gold on the surface, and occasionally dripping onto the campfire below. When that happened, there would be a sizzling sound, followed by the strong aroma of meat. Footsteps could be heard coming from the black castle. The girl named Pandora approached him and stood still, watching three or four meters away from the campfire. Richard turned his head to look, a flash in his eyes. He pointed at the hare over the fire and asked, ¡°Wanna eat that?¡± The purple girl did not answer, her eyes remained cold and indifferent. She did not seem to have any desire for the food. Instead, she seemed to be expressing her dissatisfaction and giving him a warning, as though saying, ¡°The hare is so adorable. If you dare to eat it, I¡­ will just eat you.¡± Without a tacit understanding between the two parties, it was impossible to communicate through exchanging glances, especially when one of them looked emotionless. Richard¡¯s eyes flashed, and he asked again, ¡°Hungry?¡± There was no answer. It was as if she did not understand him. Raising his eyebrows, Richard remembered that he had used the continent¡¯s current lingua franca when communicating with Gregory, and they had been able to have a normal conversation. However, it could be that Gregory had led a longer life and hence he understood the language. In that case the girl, Pandora, might not speak the current lingua franca, and perhaps he had to use another language. ¡°Putton?¡± Richard asked in a different language. There was no answer. ¡°Kling?¡± Richard changed to another language. There was still no answer. ¡°Fijian?¡± Richard changed to a third language. There was still no answer. ¡°Ascar? Masco? Lakda? Munpa?¡± Richard moved to a fourth, fifth, and sixth language and kept trying. After living in this world for 15 years, Richard had a comprehensive grasp of certain things, especially languages. Although it was impossible to master all the languages here, he had learned the most relevant languages of every major language family. This was so to prepare himself for exploring the world. After all, this was a real world, and Richard knew that it was impossible that everyone on one continent would speak the same language. However, the problem now was that after testing all the seven or eight language families he had mastered, Pandora still gave no response. ¡°In this case¡­¡± Richard rotated the hare on the fire. He did not give up, and instead he started considering other methods. Language was regarded as the most important communication tool of intelligent creatures (human beings), and it was also the main method of communication. Generally speaking, language happened in a specific environment for survival purposes, and this specific environment inevitably influenced the languages used. From a biological perspective, languages evolved from a specific proto-language in accordance to their special environments. Based on the relationship between each language, they could be divided into several language families. Within the language families, they could further branch out into language groups and divide into language branches, which were ultimately divided into different language types. Simply put, languages could be divided into four tiers: language family ¡ú language group ¡ú language branch ¡ú language type. If he looked for the origins of a language, the most fundamental parts of the language showed its specific proto-language characteristics. Languages under a unified proto-language could be very different, but these were not fundamental differences. Some were even very similar, such as Chinese and Japanese. As long as he could determine the language family of the other party, he could reduce the language barriers to a large extent. He might not be able to communicate smoothly any time soon, however he could express some simple ideas. Since he could not use the language families in this world to communicate with Pandora, what about some languages on Earth? The language system on Earth was even more comprehensive, including 13 language families, 45 language groups, and countless language branches and language types. In that case¡­ After making up his mind, Richard did not hesitate. He looked at Pandora and started to use some of the widely used language types from these 13 language families. ¡°English? Sanskrit?¡± He tried to use the Indo-European language family. Pandora did not respond and just gave him a cold and strange glance. ¡°Finnish?¡± He tried to use the Uralic language family. Pandora remained unresponsive. ¡°Mongolian?¡± He tried the Altaic language family. Pandora still remained unresponsive. Chapter 34 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Richard let out a breath before changing to Sino-Tibetan language family. ¡°Huh¡­ Chinese? Tibetan?¡± He realized that Pandora blinked and frowned when he pronounced the word ¡°Chinese¡± in Mandarin. This also had an influence in her attitude. Richard immediately said a few more terms in Chinese, however Pandora reverted back to her usual expression. It seemed like the slight reaction he had spotted was not because she understood Chinese, but because she was probably wondering how long Richard would continue trying different languages. Richard pursed his lips and tested the Afroasiatic languages. ¡°Arabic?¡± He then tried using the Austro-Tai language family. ¡°Javanese?¡± He also tested the Niger-Congo language family. ¡°Wolof.¡± And he continued trying¡­ At the end, Richard had tried all the languages he mastered. However, Pandora still maintained the same expression with a slight raise of her eyebrows. Right now, there could be two possibilities. The first possibility was that Pandora spoke a lost or unknown language, such as the Dalmatian language, an Indo-European Eastern Romance variety that was no longer used. Another example would be the legendary dragon language, which was unknown to mankind. In that case, it was naturally impossible to communicate. The second possibility was that the girl, Pandora, did not have the ability to speak languages. In other words, she was deaf. Since she could not hear any sounds or speak, the verbal language had no meaning to her. In this case, compared with the first scenario, there was still one last possibility of communication: sign language. Richard looked at Pandora, stretched out his right hand and pointed at her. He then retracted his hand, clenched his fist while raising his thumb. This was the simplest and most versatile expression in sign language, it meant ¡°hello.¡± In fact, people who did not understand sign language would also be able to understand. However¡­ Pandora obviously could not. She stood in the same place, tilting her head slightly, and kept staring at him with cold and strange eyes. ¡°Um.¡± Richard thought for a while before changing his gestures. Sign language was a language where they used gestures to express images or syllables, creating certain ideas or words. There were actually different varieties in sign language, which meant that even within the international deaf community, they might have some language barriers. Fortunately, Richard also knew multiple words in different sign languages. However after trying them, Pandora still did not respond. ¡°Okay, it seems that there¡¯s really no way to communicate with her.¡± Richard gave up, shook his head, and continued to grill the hare. Pandora watched on the side. After a while, she seemed to get tired. She sat on the rock nearby and continued watching him with her chin propped in her hands. She watched as Richard grilled the hare, finished it and cleaned up. Late at night. Pandora stood up, glanced at Richard, and walked into the castle without saying a word. Richard watched as Pandora entered the palace. He turned to stare at the dragon cave next to him, and then at the open space on the top of the mountain. He wondered where he should stay for the night. He was not someone who placed importance on enjoyment or luxury. As a prince, he had used to order maids, craftsmen, and soldiers who worked for him. That was a privilege that a prince had, and everyone expected that of a prince. The world he was in now was, after all, a medieval feudal world. If, as a prince, he showed concern for their comfort, they would not be moved by his words, but fearful of his odd behavior. It was necessary to do what his identity required him to do. But after leaving behind his identity as a prince, he knew exactly what kind of person he was. If necessary, he could live with the bare minimum needed to stay alive, as long as it did not affect the realization of his goals. Then again, if given a choice, he would choose the better alternative. He had three options for spending the night. He could sleep on the ground, with the mountain breeze blowing at him. He could enter the dragon cave and rest on a rock with Gregory. Or he could enter the black castle and find a suitable room to rest. Which one should he choose? Without thinking, Richard lifted the heavy suitcase he was carrying and walked into the black castle. It was very quiet inside. The first thing that greeted him was a vast hall, a large crystal chandelier hanging above, and numerous oil paintings on the walls. There were a few stone statues in the corners. The two sides and back of the hall were connected by corridors. There were rooms of different sizes and purposes, such as dining rooms, bedrooms, storage rooms, kitchens, etc. along them. In a corner of the hall was a wooden staircase spiraling upward that led to the second floor. Richard took the suitcase and thought for a moment. He then turned left and walked into the hallway, where he randomly selected a room and walked in. He used wind spells to ventilate the room and did a simple cleaning to clear the dust. Afterward, he put the suitcase down. The bed in the corner had no bedding, only wooden boards. Richard did not care. He sat cross-legged and began to meditate. All this time, Richard had been using anesthetics, electric currents and magnetic fields to assist him. However, he had eventually managed to break away from them and meditate on his own, creating magic sources and smelting mana. This was similar to learning to ride a bicycle. At the beginning, the person needed auxiliary wheels, but one could remove them after mastering this step. Richard had given it a long thought. If his method applied on a wider range, many ordinary people could become wizards. If managed properly, he could even create an army of wizards to take over the entire world. Of course, it was just an idea. The most important thing was to understand what was going on in this world. In order to achieve this, he needed to improve his abilities through meditation. With this in mind, Richard sat on the wooden bed and calmed down. ¡°Why is it so quiet?¡± Gregory, who had turned into a sallow-faced brawny man, stuck his head out from the entrance of the dragon cave. He stared at the black castle for a long while and listened for any sounds. A puzzled expression appeared on his face as he muttered to himself, ¡°Oh? Why is nothing happening? How is it possible that the kid hasn¡¯t been kicked out by Pandora? This is¡­ unreasonable.¡± After a while, Gregory returned to the dragon cave, not bothering to hide his emotions. ¡°I¡¯m really disappointed. I thought I could teach that kid a lesson, but this is the price he has to pay for annoying me.¡± On the second floor of the black castle, in a small room. Pandora, who was dressed in purple, hugged her legs and curled up in a corner. Her big eyes twinkled in the dark. No one could tell what was on her mind. Suddenly, she sensed something and turned her head to look at a certain place down below, the look in her eyes turning dangerous. Chapter 35 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios In a room on the first floor of the castle, Richard sat cross-legged on the wooden frame of the bed. He could clearly feel his body sink bit by bit, like a stone falling into the water, rapidly plunging to the bottom. However, his consciousness was getting lighter and lighter, like a feather flying in the wind, rising rapidly. He could also feel his body vibrate. It was a type of cell-level vibration caused by the separation of the consciousness from the body. Richard could clearly feel the planet¡¯s warm magnetic induction lines passing through his body, carrying energy, and accelerating the separation process. Buzz. The vibration quickly reached its limit, and his consciousness began to drift out of the body moved by his spiritual powers. But suddenly, Richard felt an invisible force take his consciousness and push it back into the body. ¡°Huh? What¡¯s the matter?¡± Richard was taken aback for a moment, as this had never happened before. After pondering for a while, he controlled his consciousness to stealthily leave from the side of the body. However as soon as it started to sneak out, the same force that had hindered it appeared once again, pushing the consciousness back into the body. It felt as though he was on a seat, and someone next to him was staring. The moment he tried to get up, this person would immediately rush forward and press him firmly down on the seat, making sure that he could not move at all. It was¡­ annoying. Richard was not angry, yet he felt puzzled as to what was happening. What could be the reason behind it? He had succeeded many times before without the help of anesthetics, and there were no obstacles. Why was it not working in the castle? Could it be that there was something in the castle? Richard thought for a while and decided not to give up so easily, to try again. He calmed down and chose a point directly above his body. Following this, he tried to move his consciousness out. That familiar feeling surged again. A force appeared, pressing firmly on the consciousness that was about to break out of his body. It was trying hard to push the consciousness back in. Richard mobilized his spiritual powers to resist this force with all his might. The moment he used his strength, he heard a bang, as if he had turned over something. Since he had pushed too much, his consciousness suddenly broke free of the body and went directly through the roof to a room on the second floor. Richard was a little surprised to find Pandora curled up in a corner of the room. She was frowning, directing her large amethyst eyes at something down in his room. ¡°This is¡­¡± Realization dawned on Richard, and he figured out two things. First, Pandora could not see him. In that case, presumably, Gregory should also not be able to see his consciousness. Second, Pandora knew that there was something strange in his room, and this was probably the reason why his consciousness had almost failed to get out of the body just now. What could it be? As he thought this, Richard controlled his consciousness to quickly move down and return to his room. He looked around and was taken aback. Richard discovered that there was another consciousness beside him. It actually could not be regarded as a consciousness, but something similar to a consciousness. Compared to his solid consciousness, the other party looked like it was made of very thin mist, and there was no transparent tape connecting it to a body. This meant it was an independent entity, something that existed independently of a body. It was suspended in the middle of the room, moving occasionally to reveal a female face. Her image was too vague for Richard to determine her age. ¡°What¡­¡± Realization dawned on Richard. It was clear that this had been the thing that had prevented him from getting out of his body. However, why was it trying to stop him? What exactly was this thing? A soul? A ghost? A spirit? Thoughts quickly ran through Richard¡¯s mind. The next moment, he noticed the other party slowly approaching. It tentatively stretched out two arm-like things and shook them quickly before him. He sensed a faint wave of consciousness. Richard analyzed it carefully. This being was saying something like, ¡°You¡­ I¡­ Okay¡­ Go back¡­ Danger!¡± What? Richard was still wondering about what it could mean, when it drifted to the back and reached out to grab the transparent tape that connected his body to his consciousness. Richard suddenly sensed extreme danger, a strong foreboding. If the transparent tape was broken, his consciousness might never return to his body, and he might become something similar to that being. Swoosh. He used the spiritual powers he had enhanced through long-term meditation to throw a powerful blow, and an invisible power quickly flew to the spirit. Boom! The spirit had yet to touch the transparent tape when it was hit by a strong force. His spiritual powers struck it, and it bounced hard against the wall. Richard realized that the other party could not penetrate the wall. Instead, it was stopped by the wall, stunned by the impact. It took a long time before it could move again. Perhaps it had a different density and therefore did not penetrate walls? Could it be that although this thing appeared similar to his consciousness, it was a completely different existence? It was like¡­ filtration in an experiment. At first, the impurities and the solution were mixed together, but after passing through a filter, in this case the wall, the solution could pass through, but the impurities were intercepted. Could it be that, since it had lost the connection to a body, it had gotten weaker and weaker, its energy had decreased, and it had become what it was now? Richard was somewhat uncertain. There were still many things that he did not understand about this world. Although he had done some research, and there were small breakthroughs, he obviously needed more time to study souls and dragons to find scientific explanations. All he could do now was make basic guesses. While speculating, Richard noticed that the spirit had awakened from a state of dizziness in total panic. Its two arms-like things swung wildly. Through spiritual fluctuations, it continued sending more vague information, ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ kill¡­ I¡¯m¡­ afraid¡­ I dare not¡­¡± Richard was also about to communicate with it through spiritual fluctuations, yet he did not expect the entity to suddenly float out of the door and quickly drift away from the castle. ¡°Gone?¡± Richard muttered in his mind. Richard shook his head. He did not waste any more time. Instead, he controlled his consciousness to float directly to the sky, rising to a height of hundreds of meters, and began to absorb the energy from the astral projection. A large amount of energy was absorbed and stored in the magic source within his body. After smelting the energy, it became the mana he needed to perform magic. This was the cultivation process of a wizard. It was a tedious, boring, and yet unavoidable process. After setting aside some of his energy to watch out for the spirit body that had just fled, he used the rest of his energy to meditate with all his might. Thus, the energy in his magic source grew rapidly. Sitting in a room on the second floor, Pandora¡¯s eyes flashed. She slowly tilted her head to look into the distance. She had sensed that something she disliked had left. However, that thing had obviously been staying in the castle for ages. Although she was disgusted by it, she hadn¡¯t been able to drive it away. Why would it¡­ Pandora tilted her head slightly and looked down, her eyes flashing. Chapter 36 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios In the morning. As he sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, Richard opened his eyes. He then stretched and walked out of the castle. A cold breeze blew through the open space outside, making Richard feel more refreshed. The sun was slowly rising in the east, and its light shone on the ground. Richard turned around and moved to the back of the hill, ready to survey the area. After all, he might be staying at this place for a long time, so it was better to find out more about it. Furthermore, if he were lucky enough to discover a source of water, he might encounter a beast that was up early to drink. This would settle his meal for the day. With this in mind, Richard walked down the hill. He had only walked less than 100 meters when he saw a meandering stream at a distance away. There was also a pond, which was an excellent source of water, with a radius of around 10 meters in a low area nearby. At that moment, two creatures were drinking water from the pond. After taking a few steps closer, Richard narrowed his eyes. One of the creatures was a spotted cheetah, and the other a strong black bear. These two wild beasts were obviously at the top of the food chain in this vast forest, and they saw each other as prey. Therefore, they were watching each other very, very warily as they drank. Nevertheless, they seemed prepared to leave after drinking without intention to fight. Richard¡¯s eyes flickered, and he hesitated slightly. Should he do something? With the help of magic, he could completely deal with the attacks of the two beasts. However, it was difficult to break their defenses and severely injure them, mainly because none of the spells that he currently mastered had a lot of attacking power, and he did not carry any weapons with him. In his suitcase in the castle, there was a complete set of knives for dissection. Many of them could dismember these beasts, but they would be long gone by the time he went back to retrieve them. In that case¡­ Richard stood deep in thought when he suddenly noticed the two beasts lowering their bodies at the same time, giving out low and deep growls. This was a demonstration of prowess prior to attacking. ¡°Hmm? Are they going to fight?¡± Richard was slightly puzzled. They had still been fine a while ago, so why did the two beasts suddenly want to fight? Richard then realized that he could be wrong. The two beasts were not facing each other but him¡­ something behind him. What? Richard was slightly startled. Just as he was about to turn around, he felt a strong gust of wind blow past him. A petite purple figure rushed at lightning speed to the pond and leaped, covering a distance of seven or eight meters. She landed heavily, like a cannonball. Bang. The ground shook, creating waves on the pond¡¯s surface. The two beasts by the pond bellowed. Like a mouse that had seen a cat, they turned around and fled. Furthermore, they were fairly smart and escaped in two different directions. At the sight of this, the petite purple figure didn¡¯t hesitate the slightest bit. She sped to chase the fast cheetah, disappearing into the forest in the blink of an eye. Richard¡¯s eyes flickered, and he was about to follow her. However, it did not take long before the cheetah rushed out of the forest again at an even faster speed. That purple figure was actually riding on its back. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh. Dust was flying everywhere. The cheetah ran on all fours, carrying the petite body on its back and chasing the black bear. Seemingly in order to survive, it had already surrendered to the enemy after an extremely short period of time. ¡°This¡­¡± Richard¡¯s eyes flashed as he watched the cheetah running and disappearing into the forest once again. This time, it took a longer time. Tap, tap, tap. After about a few minutes, Pandora walked out of the forest. Behind her was an exhausted and panting cheetah, gasping with almost every step it took. Following them was a black bear that was black and blue, as if it had been run over by a tyrannosaurus. The two wild beasts behaved extremely well as they followed Pandora to the pond and stared at it helplessly. They had run so much, and the water they had drunk earlier had long run out. Their throats were feeling dry and hot, thus the cool water in the pond was a great temptation. However, they dared not drink for fear of being beaten to death unless they received the consent of the little devil next to them. Ignoring them, Pandora stretched out one hand and grabbed the cheetah by the neck. She pulled it to the pond and pressed the cheetah¡¯s head firmly toward the water. The cheetah¡¯s eyes lit up, initially surprised. The animal did not stand on ceremony and stretched out its pink tongue to lick the surface. But¡­ Bam. A fair, tender, yet powerful fist landed heavily on the cheetah¡¯s head, making its entire world spin. The cheetah then realized something¡ªthis was not permission to drink, but a test. Just as it realized this, she took the cheetah¡¯s neck and pushed its head down again, closer and closer to the surface. But this time, the cheetah did not stick out its tongue regardless of how it felt. The animal kept its head over the water and remained motionless. Pandora was satisfied. She pushed the cheetah away and walked to the black bear by the side. The black bear was fairly large and weighed more or less 300 catties. It was about 1.6 meters tall, similar to an adult human. At that moment, the black bear was standing upright on the ground like a wooden pestle. Pandora, who was about 1.2 meters tall, approached it. She tried several times to grasp its neck but failed. Pandora was crossed, so she kicked the animal with her bare foot. Bam. The black bear landed on the ground. Pandora was expressionless as she grabbed the black bear by the neck and dragged it toward the pond. After doing this, Pandora repeated the process. She pressed the black bear¡¯s head toward the water. The black bear, who had been dragged like a dead dog by Pandora, felt that it had lost all its dignity, but it still had some intelligence. It had witnessed what the cheetah had done just now and was already aware that it would be beaten up if it drank. It would be safe so long as it did not do that. Therefore the animal did not open its mouth no matter what. But¡­ Bam, bam. Two extremely powerful fists landed on the black bear¡¯s head. For a moment, the black bear was taken aback. Why am I being beaten even though I didn¡¯t drink any water? Could it be that¡­ The black bear opened its mouth hesitatingly and stuck out its bright red tongue, which had many thorns. Pandora seemingly nodded in approval. The black bear immediately licked the water. On the side, the cheetah¡¯s eyes widened indignantly. Clearly, I had¡­ Why is it that¡ª Bam. The next moment, a chilling noise broke the cheetah¡¯s train of thoughts. A heavier punch landed on the black bear and knocked the animal¡¯s large body into the pond. Pandora didn¡¯t stop there. Bam, bam. Water was splashed, and the black bear collapsed into it totally. Only then did it realize that what had happened earlier had still been a test. But¡­ This is not fair! The cheetah lowered its head quietly, as though it had not seen anything. After three punches, Pandora pointed to the side. Although the black bear in the pond felt wronged, it still clambered ashore obediently. Pandora stared at the bear and pointed at the pond, but the animal shook its head quickly. When she pointed a second time, the black bear continued to shake its head. It was still shaking its head during the third time. Pandora turned around and glanced at the cheetah again. This time, the cheetah was already shaking its head crazily in an effort to show that it did intend to drink the water in the pond before Pandora could even make a gesture. Pandora nodded satisfactorily and then pointed to the forest. As if they had been pardoned, the two beasts fled into it hastily and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Next to her, Richard looked amused. He really wanted to ask her why she had done that. But the next moment, Pandora turned to look in a certain direction of the forest. Well? The sun gradually rose, and Richard heard the sounds of many animals coming from the direction of her glance. Chapter 37 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios The first thing that appeared in Richard¡¯s line of sight was a large gray hare hopping around. Then there was a monkey, followed by a goat, a large horned deer, a gray fox, a bison and a wild boar. A mighty army of animals lined up, all coming from the same direction of the forest. They drank water at the edge of the pool in an orderly manner and left quickly. No fights broke out between them, and they interacted extremely harmoniously. Suddenly, there was a slight chaos in the middle of the queue. It was the wild boar, who was wrinkling its nose forward, wanting to cut the queue to drink. But the wild boar¡¯s body froze in place as a fair and tender fist quickly approached him. Bam. The wild boar¡¯s entire body shook violently. Bam. It was smashed on the ground, its four short legs trembling frantically. It struggled for a long time before standing up. Pandora stood next to the wild boar with a cold look on her face. She pointed to the back of the queue. The wild boar babbled twice, lowered its head, and scurried to the end of the line obediently. Richard suddenly understood. The harmony of this entire army of animals was due to Pandora¡¯s terrifying violence, it was no wonder. But how was this list of animals determined? Why was it that these animals could drink water, and the cheetah and the black bear couldn¡¯t? Was it because cheetahs and black bears were carnivores? No. The gray fox and the coyote in the team were also carnivores. Was it because cheetahs and black bears were larger? That wasn¡¯t right. The wild boar and the bison were bigger. Was it because both the cheetah and the black bear were uglier? Well, that was possible. Nevertheless, the most likely explanation was that the cheetah and the black bear had come to drink water for the first time and did not know the rules. Not only had they not queued up, but they had also skipped the other animals. Hence, they had gotten beaten up. Alright, alright. As he stared at the queue of animals drinking water, Richard shook his head. He turned around and walked back to the hill. Instead of fighting for water with a group of animals, Richard used the Water Drops Condensation spell to liquefy some water for himself. He washed up quickly and then began to conduct research. He took out some things from the suitcase in the castle room and read The Writings of Monroe. When he found areas that required further research, he would use these materials to conduct experiments. During the occasional times this would cause a large reaction, he would go to the open space outside the castle. After doing this a few times, Gregory walked out of the dragon cave with a sullen face. He watched Richard¡¯s every move. After a long time, he yawned and asked, ¡°Hey kid, what are you doing? Don¡¯t you know that I¡¯m sleeping?¡± Richard glanced at Gregory and said, ¡°I¡¯m doing some interesting things. I¡¯m studying the mechanism of spells.¡± ¡°What is this? I don¡¯t understand,¡± Gregory said. Richard looked at Gregory. ¡°Simply put, I¡¯m analyzing the basis of casting spells. After successfully researching this, I will figure out many things¡ªlike why I can release a flame, or condense water vapor, why you can fly and switch between two different bodies, and so on.¡± Gregory¡¯s eyes flashed, and he frowned slightly. ¡°What¡¯s the use of this?¡± ¡°Of course it is useful,¡± Richard said. ¡°It¡¯s only when you get to the bottom of a discipline that you can truly understand it, master it, and turn it into a strength. Otherwise, you will forever be under other people¡¯s control.¡± ¡°What a strange kid. I¡¯ve never seen anyone do this before,¡± Gregory said. Richard shook his head. ¡°Strange? I think those who don¡¯t do this are really weird and illogical.¡± Richard asked aloud, ¡°Gregory, if you encountered something strange, would you find a way to figure it out, or would you accept it completely, even if it was extremely illogical? For example, one day, you suddenly discover you have eight limbs. Would you just believe that you should have eight limbs and carry on with your life normally?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Richard said. ¡°This is like suddenly growing eight limbs. No matter what, you need to find the cause. After you figure it out, you can then try to revert to the number limbs. And on the other hand, if you find it useful to have more limbs, you could find out how to grow more. ¡°In the same way, if you figure out how to release flames, you¡¯ll be able to release more powerful flames or even stop others from releasing flames. After figuring out why you can make vapor condense, you can condense more vapor or other things. After finding out how you fly in the sky, I could fly in the same way, or even make you fall during the flight.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Gregory stared at Richard with a strange expression. Obviously, the boy in front of him looked weak and frail. He also could not understand a lot of what he was saying. However, he felt inexplicably pressured by him sometimes¡ªin fact, he was slightly worried after listening to him. Would he suddenly fall from the sky one day? It seemed that he would have to fly lower and slower in the future. Damn it, had he made a mistake in bringing him here? After a silence, Gregory asked, ¡°Are you sure you can do all of this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just carrying out some basic research. Of course, I can¡¯t do all of this now, but I could do it if I achieve a breakthrough,¡± Richard said. ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is that this is all useless now, right?¡± Gregory asked, feeling somewhat relieved. ¡°Not necessarily,¡± Richard said. ¡°The research process is a long journey, and it¡¯s not necessarily considered successful only at the end. In fact, it¡¯s normal to return to any stage of your progress, such as this.¡± Richard cast a spell quickly, and a faint blue flame appeared in his hands. The Phosphorus Candle Spell. ¡°This is a low-level Zero-ring Spell used for producing light, and its essence is burning.¡± Waving his hand to dissipate the spell, Richard cast another one again, and a blood-red flame appeared. The Flame Charge Spell. ¡°This is also a low-level Zero-ring Spell used for attacks, and the essence is also burning.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°Why are their colors so different when they are both burning?¡± ¡°How would I know?¡± Gregory murmured. ¡°Combustion is a chemical reaction that produces heat and light,¡± Richard explained slowly. ¡°The process is very complicated, but the principle is a radical chain reaction, and the end result is light and heat. Because the spectrum of each burning element is different, the flame colors are also different. For example, the Phosphorus Candle Spell burns phosphorus oxide, and hence the color is blue. ¡°In addition, temperature can affect the flame color in several ways. When the flame temperature is very low, between 200 ¡ãC to 300 ¡ãC, incomplete combustion will produce a large amount of black smoke, and the flame will be black. If the temperature is higher, between 500 ¡ãC or 600 ¡ãC, the flame will look dark red. ¡°The higher the temperature, the brighter the flame color, turning into fuchsia, deep red, and then blood red. For example, the color of the Flame Charge Spell is blood red because the temperature has reached 1,000 ¡ãC.¡± Chapter 38 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios ¡°Kid, what are you trying to say?¡± Gregory said, confused. ¡°What I¡¯m saying is that the same flame can have different levels of power and functions for all kinds of reasons. If you can figure out how it works, you¡¯ll be able to change it and cast more powerful spells. You could even discover a combination of Zero-ring Spells that releases magic as powerful as One-ring or Two-ring Spells. ¡°For example, before you took me here, I was researching something interesting¡ªhow to use wind spells to change air pressure, and the Water Drops Condensation Spell to liquefy the oxygen in the air at a certain temperature.¡± ¡°Liquefy oxygen?¡± ¡°Yes, liquefy oxygen.¡± Richard nodded. ¡°All living things, including you and me, need oxygen. Without oxygen, 99.9% of the living things in the world would die. The remaining ones, the ones that wouldn¡¯t die, would be anaerobic bacteria. ¡°Under normal circumstances, oxygen only exists in a gaseous state. But at the atmospheric pressure of 101.325 kPa, it can be liquefied by lowering the temperature to -183 ¡ãC. ¡°It¡¯s possible to reach a pressure level of 101.325 kPa, but it¡¯s hard to create an environment with a temperature as low as -183 ¡ãC. Although the principle of the Water Drops Condensation Spell is to lower the temperature, it wasn¡¯t going that low. I had to try for a long time, but at last, I barely succeeded after stacking various spells together and using some techniques recorded in a wizard book.¡± As he spoke, Richard kept a straight face. He waved his hand to cancel the Flame Charge Spell and then cast a long spell. The air around them surged and converged in his palm. After a while, several water drops appeared, condensing into a ball which was suspended approximately one centimeter above Richard¡¯s palm. Phew. Richard heaved a sigh of relief as he showed the ball to Gregory. ¡°This is liquid oxygen. When ignited, its volume can expand instantly by more than 800 times, releasing powerful energy and causing an explosion.¡± Upon finishing his words, Richard¡¯s expression turned solemn again, and he cast another spell. His eyes then sharpened, and he forcefully threw the ball of liquid oxygen in his hands. A bright red flame appeared immediately around it. Visible to the naked eye, the ball of liquid oxygen was flung to a distance, and the red flame that covered it flickered. Afterward, a light brighter than the sun appeared, followed by a loud boom which sounded like thunder. Soil was thrown everywhere, and dust flew several meters in the air. Shock waves spread and turned into a gust of raging wind, sweeping the entire hill crest, and lowering the vegetation wherever it went. Gregory could sense his clothes sticking to his body by the strong impact of the wind. It took some time for things to return to normal. The sound waves spread beyond and startled a large number of birds in the forest. They flew further and further away in a panic. When all the dust had settled, a scorched pit with almost a meter deep had appeared a dozen meters away. ¡°What the¡­¡± Gregory was somewhat taken aback. Honestly, in terms of prowess, this liquid oxygen was no match for the flames he had released in his large dragon body. But it was still Richard who had done it. He knew very well that Richard was just a weak Apprentice Wizard, but this power obviously exceeded the limits that Richard could master. In other words, all the things Richard had said earlier were possible. An Apprentice Wizard could unleash One-ring and even Two-ring Spells. In that case¡­ There was a flash in Gregory¡¯s eyes. He looked at Richard and said, ¡°No! There is a problem!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Although what you created is very powerful, you spent too much time making it. In this time span, you would have been killed by the enemy a dozen times. So no matter how formidable you are, you won¡¯t have a chance to use it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve also thought about that problem. And it turns out that this can be fixed.¡± ¡°How is that possible?¡± ¡°Because there is a kind of magic called¡­ the Magic Pattern Spells.¡± ¡°Can you do it?¡± ¡°I think I can.¡± Gregory fell silent suddenly. After a while, Gregory glanced at Richard and slowly murmured, ¡°Why- why don¡¯t I fly and take you back?¡± ¡°Uh, there¡¯s no need. Before you brought me here, I was ready to leave that place. It was just that I hadn¡¯t thought where to go. There is nothing wrong with staying here. I can be your daughter¡¯s playmate.¡± ¡°I feel worried when you say that.¡± ¡°What are you worried about?¡± ¡°Pandora.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t beat her anyway,¡± Richard said after pondering for a moment. ¡°According to what she has shown so far, I am not her match.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s only for the time being,¡± Gregory said seriously. ¡°For the safety of my daughter, Pandora, I think it¡¯s necessary to send you away.¡± ¡°You¡¯re exaggerating, aren¡¯t you? You, Gregory, can handle me, right?¡± Gregory fell silent again. After a pause, he added, ¡°No matter what, I¡¯ll have to take you away sooner or later. Even if it¡¯s not now, someday I will have to.¡± After saying this, Gregory turned and walked into the dragon cave. Watching his back, Richard shrugged. That evening, in the room on the first floor of the castle. Richard took out a porcelain bottle from his suitcase and poured grease in it. He then placed a soaked piece of rush into a bronze oil lamp and lit it with magic. Whoosh. A small ball of flames burned, illuminating the room and making the dark castle look slightly brighter. Richard flipped open The Writings of Monroe and continued studying it. After a while, he took out a piece of white jade that was seven or eight centimeters long and three centimeters wide from the suitcase. The thin piece of jade looked like a microscope slide. In the Middle Ages, there were two distinct cultural trends¡ªgem culture in the West, and jade culture in the East. Due to the lack of production, the extremely precious jade from the East was very rare in the West. At the same time, it wasn¡¯t appreciated in the West, and its value was similar to regular stone. In The Writings of Monroe, jade, gems and crystals could be used as materials for magic. Richard flipped his hand, and a small carving knife appeared in his palm. Richard squinted his eyes at the white jade for a moment. The sharp blade slashed the stone¡¯s surface, crushed jade flying. One by one, strange notches were rapidly carved on the surface. Richard was extremely serious. He occasionally paused to think for a while, pondering to determine the depth and angle of the next notch. When the engraving was finally completed, the entire piece of white jade had been transformed. Both sides were covered with strange lines, but these did not form a particular pattern. There was neither symmetry nor beauty. Instead, they looked complicated and sophisticated. Richard put down the carving knife and heaved a sigh of relief. It had taken a lot of time and effort to complete his work with this white jade, and this was already the simplest and most basic use of the Magic Pattern Spell. Richard then stretched out his hand with the jade and narrowed his eyes slightly. He pushed the mana in his body out of the magic source, and it passed through his blood vessels, to the end of his fingers, and then into the white jade. The white jade suddenly started absorbing the mana, and some mysterious changes took place inside it. Buzz. The white jade vibrated. Crack. The next moment, it split, and a faint blue flame appeared. Chapter 39 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios This world truly existed, and so did wizard¡¯s magic system. Hence, it also went through different stages such as birth, development, maturity, and change. According to The Writings of Monroe, the magic system had first appeared during the ancient wizard civilization. A long time ago, the first batch of wizards created the first spells with their wisdom and abilities, forming the prototype of this system. Later on, after several centuries, the prototype was improved and developed by many outstanding wizards, and it gradually evolved into a mature and comprehensive system, complex and sophisticated. At the same time, this ancient wizard civilization developed and reached its peak, which also led to the building of inexhaustible energy sources. Furthermore, they even built the skyscraping Tower of Babel and a floating city that could accommodate more than a 100 000 people. At one point in time, they even moved away from their motherland to explore the wider world and universe. But one day, a catastrophe suddenly came¡ªthere were no records of this disaster and how it had happened. People only knew that it had destroyed the entire ancient wizard civilization at an unimaginable speed. Then came a long dark age, a time without any historical records. Hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years might have passed before the remains of this ancient civilization gradually developed again and became a new civilization. With the help of bits and pieces of information passed down, the new generation of wizards began the struggle to restore the previous magic system. Many spells had inevitably been lost, and only perhaps after another long period of development, they might be restored. In any case, what had finally been restored was a lacking magic system¡ªthe current one. According to The Writings of Monroe, this system had five classifications¡ªthe general magic system, magic categories, magic sections, magic branches, and magic school. The magic categories were the first of the magic system classifications. Currently, nine major magic categories had been restored: the Energy-modeling Spells, the Spirit Spells, the Transformation Spells, the Prophetic Spells, the Summoning Spells, the Space Spell, the Time Spells, the Magic Pattern Spells, and other spells. As the name suggested, Energy-modeling Spells were related to magic that shaped, controlled and utilized energy. Fireballs, ice shards, wind blades, lightning, and so on belonged to this category. They were also the most common and practical spells and currently formed the largest magic category. This magic category was further divided into nine sections: water, wind, fire, earth, wood, thunder, dark energy, light energy, and pure energy. Some of these sections only had one branch, whereas others had multiple branches. For example, water element spells had many branches, including the water branch, the ice branch, and the acid branch. If a wizard were to contribute greatly to a certain branch and invent a series of related spells, it would develop into a school. For example, within the ice branch was the Knokke School created by a wizard named Sknor, and it contained a series of spells: Sknor Snowball (Zero-ring), Sknor Ice Shard (Zero-ring), Sknor Hail (Zero-ring), Sknor Ice Storm (One-ring), Sknor Polar Cold (Two-ring). After the Energy-modeling Spells, there were Spirit Spells. Spirit Spells, as the name suggested, involved spells that worked on the human brain, spirit, or consciousness. They could be divided in five categories: attack, defense, illusion, control, and soul. Each of them had one to three branches, and this was the second largest magic category currently. Attack, defense and illusion spells were normal. However, control spells could directly change a person¡¯s mind and turn him into a fully obedient slave. Some lascivious wizards used these spells to control many young and beautiful women, including twins and mother-daughter pairs, to become their sex slaves, submitting to them day and night. This had thus been condemned by many righteous wizards. Then there were the Transformation Spells. Transformation Spells could make an entire living body or part of it undergo temporary or permanent changes. It was the third major magic category. Many of these spells were strange and evil. While powerful, they challenged ethics and moral relations. For example, there was a spell called the Reaping Corpse that required the wizard to have sex with a corpse in order to extract terrifying attack, defense, and recovery powers from it. The wizard would then instantly transform into a humanoid fighting machine, capable of staying in combat for three days without rest. There was another spell called the Black Death Frenzy, which could cause a plague to sweep across an entire kingdom and its neighboring countries in just a few days, destroying a large region. The effects were overwhelming, but it would likely end the entire world if it got out of control. Hence regardless of how crazy wizards were, they dared not study this type of magic in depth. Next came the Prophetic Spells. Prophetic Spells involved the use of certain mysterious mechanisms to access, change and make use of information to achieve certain goals. Because too much of its history had been lost, only three sections¡ªdetection, misleading, and judgment¡ªand their respective branches had been restored. Then there were other three magic categories: Summoning, Space and Time. Wizards could use Summoning Spells to summon life from unknown places. Space Spells could alter spaces and create certain effects, and Time Spells could change time, among other effects. Like the Prophetic Spells, a lot of the history of these three magic categories was gone, resulting only in a few remaining sections and branches. Moreover, there was a knowledge gap, which made it difficult for the new generation of wizards to understand what had been passed down. As such, these categories were inevitably in decline. Lastly, there were the Magic Pattern Spells. Magic Pattern Spells utilized special lines or patterns to create specific magical effects. When used on a sword, it could increase its sturdiness and sharpness. Therefore, it was called possession. But when used on the inside of a building, it could make the entire building unleash powerful attack or defense functions. As such, it was also called a magic array. Simply put, Magic Pattern Spells had many uses and a wide range of effects. Although it was a single major category of magic, it could theoretically replace all other magic categories because it could use lines and patterns to replicate other spells perfectly. Of course, this would require absolute precision and accuracy when the carving of lines. Any slight error could lead to failure. Precisely due to this, the difficulty of Magic Pattern Spells was not any less than Summoning, Space and Time Spells. Therefore, when Richard had said that he would be able to figure out Magic Pattern Spells, the large dragon Gregory had suddenly fallen silent and acted weirdly afterward. However, in Richard¡¯s view, Magic Pattern Spells were not really that difficult. In a sense, they resembled electricity circuits on Modern Earth, and the only difference was that they possessed some magical characteristics of this world. A circuit was both simple and complex. It could be as simple as a piece of wire, like a power supply, or as complicated as the most high-end technology on Modern Earth¡ªcomputers, rockets, and satellites. They were just manifestations of a large number of circuits. Magic Pattern Spells were obviously both simple and complex. It was so simple that one just needed to follow the steps and carve out the lines. However, combining each carved line methodically to create an entire piece and then achieving a magical effect required extraordinary wisdom. This was like Modern Earth¡¯s binary code that used only two numbers, zero and one, but could create an entire virtual world. In the evening, the sky was dark, and the forest was as quiet as the vast ocean. Under the moonlight, large tree branches and leaves swayed with the wind, making swaying sounds as they moved. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh. In the middle of the forest, the terrain was slightly sloping, several hill crests sitting motionless like islands in the ocean. On the smallest ¡°island,¡± stood a black castle. A room in the castle was emitting a faint light, like a lighthouse giving directions to navigating ships. Inside, the piece of white jade in Richard¡¯s hand had cracked in the middle, and a faint blue flame had emerged, burning quietly. Richard knew that his attempt at a Magic Pattern Spell had succeeded this time. This was the product of the simplest spell, Phosphorus Candle. Since this spell had been successfully cast, this method could be reproduced for the rest of the spells. With the help of magic lines, the time to cast spells would be greatly shortened. This would enable him to release several, or even dozens, of spells together within the time span of one spell, and hold a power that broke through the limit of spell levels. In other words, a Level 1 Apprentice Wizard would be able to compete with a Level 2 Apprentice Wizard, a Level 3 Apprentice Wizard, or even a Level 1 Wizard in the near future. This was the first small goal that Richard had set for himself in his study of the magic system. There was a certain level of difficulty involved in accomplishing this goal. Nevertheless, it seemed achievable. Richard waved his hand to extinguish the flame and put away the broken piece of white jade. After stretching his stiff body briefly, he began to work on a second piece of white jade with magic patterns. Then there was the third, the fourth. It was late at night. That room in the castle was still lit, seemingly going to last all night like a lighthouse. Chapter 40: The First Words Chapter 40 Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios In the blink of an eye, many days had passed. The weather had gotten cooler, and the leaves of the forest trees were turning yellow and falling. When standing on the hill and staring into the distance during daytime, what greeted the eye was a mottle that resembled a watercolor painting of a child¡¯s graffiti. Richard had not been idling during this time. He had been studying Magic Pattern Spells and busy constructing various things. Although he had brought several materials and instruments in his suitcase, they would eventually run out. Hence, he had to make preparations for that. As such, Richard had begun to make lime from chalk, extract oxaline and soda ash from wood ash, extract acetic acid, acetone, and methanol from wood, and prepare sulfuric acid from sulfide ore. During the preparation process, one by one, simple buildings such as windmills, mixed feed shaft kilns, and shallow pools appeared on the open space of the hill. Regarding these changes, Pandora and Gregory neither agreed nor opposed. Richard continued building them. In this period, Richard discovered some things. For example, Gregory did not stay in the dragon cave all the time. He would leave it from time to time and fly to other places. Sometimes, it took him half a day to return. And sometimes, it took him many days. It wasn¡¯t clear what he was up to. As for Pandora, there was still no verbal communication from her. Typically, even deaf and mute people would make babbling sounds. But after a long period of interaction, Richard did not catch any attempt or desire to speak from her. All of the communication was done with merely one look or action, and the meaning conveyed was very clear: For example, ¡°stay away,¡± ¡°stay further away¡±, ¡°stay even further away¡±, and ¡°don¡¯t talk to me.¡± Richard could only speculate as to why she was not talking. It was not because she could not understand or talk but¡­ In the evening, darkness poured in from a distance like the tide, and the entire sky darkened quickly like a drowned beach. After studying Magic Pattern Spells for the whole day, Richard walked out of the castle and breathed in deeply, only to discover that the area outside the castle was extremely quiet. He could only hear the twisting sounds of the windmill rotating. Gregory had flown away the day before and had not yet returned. Richard did not know where Pandora had gone to. Although he knew that the father-daughter pair was very eccentric, Richard could not help feeling surprised. Did they trust him that much? Weren¡¯t they afraid that he would take all the jewels in the dragon cave and run away? Of course, there were likely no jewels, but only garbage and broken stones in Gregory¡¯s stinky dragon cave. Just as he was pondering this, Richard heard the sound of footsteps. Tap, tap, tap. It was Pandora. However, the footsteps were mingled with the sound of a heavy object being dragged. Rustle, rustle, rustle. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Richard turned around and saw Pandora, clad in purple, walking up from the foot of the hill. She was dragging an enormous tree that was decades old, more than 10 meters long and 30 centimeters in diameter, behind her. The roots carried plenty of soil, as though it had just been pulled out from the earth. With a cold expression, Pandora dragged the tree up the hill and placed it on the ground with a loud bang. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Richard was puzzled. ¡°Are you preparing for a tree transplantation? Or adding some nature to the hill? But if you transplant the tree in fall, the survival rate is not high, is it?¡± Without uttering a word, Pandora put down the tree and frowned slightly, seemingly occupied with something important. The next moment, she stretched out her hand, walked to the tree roots, and snapped the ones that remained. She then walked to the crown of the tree and began to break the branches. Crack, crack. After a long time, what remained in Pandora¡¯s hands was only the tree trunk. It looked like a large wooden stick more than 10 meters long. Pandora lifted the trunk with two arms and brandished it, a whirlwind blowing across the open space immediately. Woosh. Richard, who was standing on the side, pursed his lips. He was certain that Pandora had not dragged the tree atop the hill for transplantation, but what exactly was it for? Woosh, woosh. Pandora brandished the trunk two more times, seemingly testing its strength. After a while, she held the trunk and frowned at the open space before the castle. Looking slightly disappointed, she dropped the trunk, turned around and descended the hill again, disappearing into the darkness. Not long after, Pandora returned. As expected, she had dragged another tree here, one that looked older and heavier, again. In the same way, Pandora quickly moved and turned the tree into a large stick. She brandished it again. It took her a few tries, but she shook her head and put it down before descending the hill again. After several tests, before the castle was a total of four big wooden sticks, more than ten meters long each but with different thickness and weight. Picking up the last stick, Pandora blinked with a somewhat satisfied expression. Something seemed to cross her mind, and she tilted her head slightly and glanced at Richard, who was next to her. ¡°Don¡¯t run around at night,¡± Pandora said. After pondering for a moment, she added scarcely, ¡°Dangerous.¡± ¡°Uh?¡± Richard raised his eyebrows. The moment he heard Pandora¡¯s words, he was briefly taken aback. He then came to his senses and figured out three things. First, Pandora knew how to speak. At the very least, like Gregory, she knew the lingua franca of this world. Second, Pandora had not spoken for so long because¡­ well, she wouldn¡¯t bother talking. Or was she just cold and proud? There was also the possibility that this strange environment had shaped her unique personality. She kept to herself very much, and there were some examples of this behavior in Modern Earth. Autistic people could remain silent all year round. Be it to strangers or relatives, they completely shut themselves in a world of their own. In short, it was not that she could not talk. She just did not want to. Third, Pandora had not spoken to him for a long time. Therefore, it was definitely not out of interest that she had spoken all of a sudden today. Judging from her strange behavior, he believed that something was about to happen tonight, and it was something very dangerous. What could it be? In the darkness, Richard narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at the shadows at the foot of the hill. Prolonged meditation had strengthened his body¡¯s perception to a certain extent, which had also given Richard an acute sense of awareness. The sky had darkened, but the forest had obviously not calmed down. Instead, it was getting more and more restless. A howl. A roar. A hiss. One after the other, multiple beasts roared, and Richard did not miss any of this. ¡°Are they going to¡­ become violent? Or is it a beast tide?¡± Richard guessed as his eyes flickered and he looked up at the night sky. A large moon shone through the clouds, illuminating the entire forest. Richard did not know if it was his illusion, but at that moment, the moon looked red, as if it was stained with blood.