Wizard: I Can Refine Everything-Chapter 251 - 35: Unexpected Gains

Chapter 251 -35: Unexpected Gains

Fireballs streaked across the sky from the distant horizon like falling meteors, tracing scorching hot paths in the air and shimmering with a heart-pounding red light.

They fell like a rain of world-ending fire, bringing suffocating heat waves and descending fiercely upon the densely pursuing Fire Lizard squad below.

The Fire Lizards, already somewhat scattered in their formation due to the pursuit, disbanded under the sudden onslaught of fireballs. The huge impact force and the rampant currents of the Fire Element mercilessly devoured everything. The Fire Lizards ran in panic, but the relentless fireballs left them nowhere to hide.

The air was filled with the smell of charring and the piercing cries of the Fire Lizards, transforming the whole scene into a veritable hell on earth.

The captain watched in a daze, suddenly understanding why the Crystal Ball had kept repeating not to decelerate.

If they had slowed down, it wouldn’t have been just the Fire Lizards enveloped by this fire rain.

Had the command sent an entire legion to support them?

At the origin of the fireballs, Richard, wearing Eagle Vision Skill glasses, quietly observed the effects of the Magic Support Vehicle.

In thirty seconds, these two squads had launched thirty-six thousand fireballs, almost equivalent to a concentrated fire spell from a White Wizard Army.

And his cost was just three hundred Magic Essences.

The other Alchemy Wizards watching the scene were incredulous, having only learned how to operate and repair the Magic Support Vehicle.

This was their first real combat experience.

Before this real fight, they had estimated the potential of this new weapon, but they never imagined the terrifying effectiveness of the Magic Support Vehicle’s concentrated fire.

“Gentlemen, come back to your senses.”

Richard’s voice, tinged with pride, roused the Alchemy Wizards from their shock, and they looked at him with disbelief and… respect.

This respect was not for Richard’s strength, as among them were Alchemy Wizards of Second Ring.

They respected Richard’s wisdom, utterly convinced by the firepower of the Magic Support Vehicle in an era when every Academy was a military institution, and every Alchemy Wizard was deeply ingrained with the pursuit of weaponry.

“Master Richard.”

“Master Richard.”

“Master Richard.”

…All the Alchemy Wizards present gave Richard a Wizard’s Salute, and the call of “Master Richard” was no longer a mere formality but a genuine expression of respect, making Richard somewhat embarrassed.

In his view, he was just lucky, and probably less knowledgeable compared to the other Alchemy Wizards present.

After all, he was only about three hundred years old.

“Master Richard, what do we do next?” one wizard asked.

“Cough, gentlemen, there’s no need for that,” Richard said somewhat awkwardly, “I’m just a technical advisor, responsible for handling those difficult repairs. However you were trained to operate, continue just like that.

This is making me somewhat embarrassed.”

Hearing this, the wizards laughed heartily, and everyone began to operate according to their training procedures.

The Magic Support Vehicle team’s first support mission was successfully completed.

…

The situation in the war continued to evolve. Initially, the Fire Lizards, due to their strikes on the Black Wizards, caused the Wizards to lose their intelligence advantage, something they were not accustomed to. This unease led to weaknesses in their defenses being exploited by the Fire Lizards.

But every wizard in the command was battle-hardened, and after suffering initial losses, they immediately remedied the situation.

According to the Fire Lizards’ plan, these breaches were supposed to collapse the entire defensive line. However, the wizards had anticipated this possibility. Under the command’s operations, a second line of defense beyond the first was rapidly employed, greatly delaying the advance of the Fire Lizards.

Though the Fire Lizards’ plan to collapse the defensive line was indeed successful in terms of intent, it was as if it had not succeeded.

Though they regained a lot of lost territory, the wizards’ defensive line did not collapse.

And those heavily fortified wizard cities, armed to the teeth, acted like spikes continuously bleeding out the already weakened Fire Lizard Empire.

Suddenly, the war fell into a strange state of stalemate.

The Fire Lizards began to replan their offensive, while the wizards stabilized the second defensive line and started building a third.

No one knew how long this stalemate would last— it could be over tomorrow, in a week, or perhaps the next second they would be notified to start a new round of warfare.

For Richard’s battlefield rescue team, this stalemate provided a rare period of relief.

The rescue team’s performance was spread by word of mouth among the supported wizards, praising it as a brilliant weapon, and top military echelons indeed recognized a gem. Naturally, such performances reached the ears of the command through various channels.

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Thus, the rescue team’s missions during this time became increasingly perilous.

After all, there were only so many spell components purchased by the legion, and it was unrealistic to expect Richard to produce a large quantity of them on short notice.

Therefore, adhering to the principle of using the best steel on the cutting edge, the tasks assigned to the rescue team became more and more dangerous.

Before entering this phase of stalemate, the rescue team had already been deployed twelve times, with enough remaining spell components for three small squads to deploy once more.

Therefore, most team members had already returned to the White Wizard squads, as every wizard was crucial at this juncture.

In the parking lot, Richard lay on the driving cab of the Magic Support Vehicle, leisurely basking in the sun.

Currently, it was December in the Red Sun World, a month where only one sun graced the sky, and its sunlight intensity was perfect for sunbathing.

“Ugh, that kid is looking at you again.”

Ulysses lay beside Richard, under a mushroom fiber sunbed.

“Who, Damir?”

“Ugh, that kid.”

Ever since their last conversation was interrupted by a task, Damir had never approached Richard again, and Richard was quite happy about it.

Richard frowned slightly, “What does this guy want now?”

“Ugh, who knows. Want to ask him yourself?”

“Forget it.”

Not far from Richard, Damir was organizing his thoughts from this period, striving to explain his purpose to Richard in just a few words.

He took a Magic Potion from his pocket, drank it all in one gulp, and then strode toward Richard. But he had only taken a few steps when Richard suddenly appeared in the shadow in front of him.

“Damir, what do you want from me?”

Damir was startled; how had Master Richard come over by himself? Could it be that Master Richard had been paying attention to him all along!

“Master Richard, do you remember I wanted to discuss an idea with you last time…”

Richard waved his hand abruptly, somewhat rudely interrupting, “No need for chatter, get straight to the point. What do you want?”

“Uh… simply put, I was hoping to get academic funding from you.”

“Academic funding?”

Richard was stunned for a moment; academic funding was an investment by Wizard Society. Many wizards, despite having good ideas, were hesitant to enter the Plane Battlefield to earn big money due to insecurities about their own power, causing their research to stall due to a lack of funding.

At this time, if wizards wanted to continue their research, they had to find an academic sponsor—that is, a financier. Then, they would present their ideas and the potential outcomes to the academic sponsor—to paint a big picture, so to speak, to attract investment.

Sponsors often signed a contract with wizards, giving them a large amount of Magic Essence either in lump-sum or in stages, and in return, the wizard would share the results of their research after completion.

The reason Richard was stunned was simple; such funding was usually a task for major Wizard Commerce companies. His small recently-established commerce had little profit, let alone extra money to sponsor others.

And since Damir himself had been on the battlefield, how much money did his research need to burn that he was looking for another academic sponsor?

“Uh, Damir, I think you’re misunderstanding our commerce…”

“Master, please don’t rush to reject it. Take a look at my results first.”

Damir said while taking a metal sphere the size of a human head out of his pocket. The surface of the sphere was densely engraved with Runes, and at both ends, two pieces of Magic Essence were powering the sphere.

“Master, look at this.”

Richard took the sphere and briefly examined it with his spiritual power, to see what exactly it was.

However, this brief inspection scared Richard so much that his hand trembled, and he nearly didn’t secure the sphere.

Inside the metal sphere, there were two high-density clusters of Water and Fire Elements, isolated by a robust Magic Barrier, preventing an Annihilation Reaction. But given the concentration of the two elements inside, should a reaction occur, both he and Damir nearby would be vaporized instantly.

Richard carefully handed the metal sphere back to Damir, instructing him to put it back into his pocket.

“This is what you wanted to show me? A big bomb using a Water and Fire Annihilation reaction?”

Richard wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and immediately called Ulysses over with a Spiritual Message.

Although Damir’s protection was sufficient, Richard was still terrified.

“Yes, Master, isn’t this device beautiful?” Damir said somewhat excitedly, “Master, I’ve found a fantastic method to concentrate these two elements to an astonishing level. Next, we just need to perfect the Rune Array to keep these two elements separated and…”

“Stop.”

Richard raised his hand, interrupting the ongoing Damir, and pulled out an Annihilation Bomb from his pocket.

“Take a look at this.”

Damir received the Annihilation Bomb with a puzzled look, then his face showed a shocked expression.

“This this this…”

Damir pointed at the Annihilation Bomb, unable to utter a complete sentence for a while.

“This is a small gadget I made during my apprenticeship,” Richard said nonchalantly, “Back then, my Rune skills weren’t enough, so I used physical materials for containment.

Considering the results, it’s quite good, though the damage radius is a bit small.”

Damir felt like his brain was smoking; he hadn’t considered such a simple solution, using physical materials for containment, in the past few centuries.

But this wasn’t his fault; most wizards had a dependency on Runes.

Richard took back the Annihilation Bomb and simultaneously snapped Damir out of his reverie.

“However, your method of concentrating elements is quite interesting. How about we discuss it in detail after the war?”

Since Richard had always been unable to press the cost of the Annihilation Bomb to a reasonable price, Damir’s appearance had given him a new idea.

Since he couldn’t reduce the cost, why not try to increase the power of the Annihilation Bomb?