The Dragon Beast Breeding Base is divided into four levels, with the outermost layer being the area guarded by the majority of Dragon Beast knights, as well as the storage of the breeding base.
In each of the massive rooms, various corpses of Flame Behemoths are stored. Alchemical tools made by Dragon Alchemy are placed in these rooms, forming a field that can slow down the decay of the corpses and the loss of essence within them.
In the shadows, Richard stepped out of one of the warehouses and marked a spot on the map in his hand.
This map was a rough sketch based on Ulysses' reconnaissance results, and Richard made marks on it to conveniently grab some loot when he retreated later.
In this shadowy crevice, while the creatures of the material world could not detect Richard, he also could not interact with the objects of the material world. He could only wait until he emerged from the crevice to truly touch these things.
The second level of the Dragon Beast Breeding Base is the breeding ground for Dragon Beasts. The Dragon Beasts raised here are not yet adults and must grow for a period in the breeding ground before they can serve as mounts for Dragon Beast knights.
Upon entering the third level, it appeared to function as a laboratory.
Richard saw several Fire Lizards binding a somewhat deformed Dragon Beast to a platform, then skillfully inserting several metal nails into the Dragon Beast's body.
As the nails pierced its body, the Dragon Beast ceased its struggles.
Then, Richard watched as one Fire Lizard took out a tool and expertly began to dissect the Dragon Beast, cutting away the deformed parts and placing them into golden containers for preservation.
The remaining parts, after being recorded by the Fire Lizards, were taken away by Dragon Beast knights to be ground up as food for the smaller Dragon Beasts.
"Is this dissection research? The Fire Lizard race is quite advanced," Richard marveled.
The entire operation by the Fire Lizards was smooth and standardized, clearly indicating they had been doing this for a long time.
But the more advanced they became, the more thoroughly the wizards would destroy them.
Passing through the third level, Richard quickly arrived at the fourth level, where he finally saw the core of the breeding base.
Before him lay nearly a square kilometer of land filled with massive crystal incubation chambers, each containing a Dragon Beast embryo.
"Indeed, these are relics of the Precursors. These Fire Lizards have so many Precursors' relics!" Richard exclaimed, his excitement beyond words as he gazed at the incubation chambers.
Compared to this base, the relics he had previously obtained were practically junk.
But just as Richard was filled with excitement, Ulysses suddenly doused him with cold water.
"Wait, don't get too excited. Take a closer look at these things."
"Take a closer look?"
As Richard approached the incubation chambers, he suddenly noticed that the control panels beneath them seemed to be made of metal rather than crystal.
In the Precursors' relics he had encountered before, their items were all made of special crystals; he had never seen them use metal. Ulysses voiced his speculation:
"I suspect these are devices left by the Precursors for their servant army. Otherwise, after so many years, these instruments would have broken down long ago.
I don't believe these lizards could repair the Precursors' items.
Look closely; even the things they can maintain are broken."
Richard wandered among the incubation chambers and found, just as Ulysses had said, that a significant portion of the machines in this plaza were indeed malfunctioning.
Ulysses sighed:
"Time is the most terrifying poison. It can cause gods to fall, machines to decay, and great Precursors to regress into primitives, leaving the brilliant starry sky in silence."
"Can Precursors really regress into primitives?" Richard asked casually.
"Of course. A few ambitious individuals and a civil war can cause a civilization's vast territory to collapse. The ambitious take their corners, warring against each other. Thus, crafts begin to be lost, technologies become extinct, until they exhaust the last remnants of civilization, and the last vessel capable of taking mortals away from the world turns to scrap.
Thus, the great Precursors regress into primitives."
As Ulysses narrated this process, his tone rose and fell, as if singing a requiem for a civilization.
"Is your divine civilization born from the corpse of this civilization?" Richard asked curiously.
"No, this is something I heard from a bard in the Tavern World. The Tavern World is an illusory realm where beings known as bards live, collecting interesting stories from various worlds to sing in taverns, earning the admiration and astonishment of patrons.
By the way, these beings feed on that admiration and astonishment.
If you encounter one of these creatures, feel free to tell them a story.
These little guys will trade you what they consider useless for a story they deem good enough, like fragments of rules or something."
The Tavern World, where bards feed on astonishment and admiration.
Richard felt this world was truly marvelous, with so many things he had never seen before.
Richard wandered around the machines but did not take action.
He was waiting, waiting for other wizards to draw fire for him.
Although he had Ulysses as support, Richard was still a second-ring wizard, and being burdened by him made Ulysses a bit hesitant to act.
Suddenly, Richard noticed the Fire Lizards operating the machines in the plaza began to move.
A wizard had been discovered by the Fire Lizards!...
Near the position between the third and fourth levels of the base, Murphy transformed into a stone giant over three meters tall, knocking out a second-level Fire Lizard with a single punch. The reason he was discovered was quite simple.
"Damn, you Fire Lizards even have dust prevention measures!"
As Murphy was spotted, the entire base's security began to mobilize. Fire Lizard knights charged inward on their Dragon Beasts along the wide corridors, while the few third-level Fire Lizards responsible for guarding the inner ring revealed their true forms.
[Suspicious target detected]
[Suspicious target detected]
Several sealed rooms on the third level suddenly shattered, and ten massive creatures nearly four meters tall emerged from within.
From their appearance, one could vaguely discern the general shape of Fire Lizards, but their bodies were covered in a layer of exoskeleton-like armor.
The Fire Lizards heard constant reports from the armor in their ears, and in their line of sight, a marker locked onto Murphy, who was knocking out Fire Lizards one by one, with lines of information appearing beside it.
[Target: Half-elemental creature]
[Energy intensity level thirty-seven, physical equivalent of 245-250, mental strength of 299.]
[Danger rating: Dangerous]
[Killing strategy: High-frequency shock fist for close combat, or use elemental annihilation cannon.]
The Fire Lizard did not pay attention to the information it could not understand; the language used by the holy armor was Dragon Script, a script that had been abolished long ago when the first Fire Lizard King killed the Dragon King.
Although the first Fire Lizard King ordered the officials to pass down this script, the uncertainties of long ages were enough to cause any precise program to have significant errors.
By the time Dragon Script reached the era of the holy armor, only fragments remained.
The Fire Lizard whispered to the armor in Dragon language:
"Ignore!"
In the next moment, the information about Murphy vanished from its view.
It stretched its body and strode towards Murphy.
Bang! Murphy was knocked back several meters by a punch, and the arm he used to block the punch developed a massive crack, the shockwave from the collision instantly leaving the surrounding Fire Lizards dazed.
"This is... a relic of The Lost Ones!"
Murphy looked at the metallic monster before him, a flash of greed crossing his mind.
As long as he took this thing and offered it to the Tower of Truth, he would have enough merit to apply for the Great Wizard trial!
"Primitive, you truly are my lucky star!"
Murphy looked at the armored Fire Lizard, and an astonishing wave of energy erupted from him. Runes appeared on Murphy's body, and in just a few seconds, he transformed into a rune stone giant.
But the next moment, Murphy's body was sent flying.
"Armor, extreme combat mode."
The Fire Lizard uttered two phrases in Dragon language that it understood, and then a holy potion was injected into its body. It felt its body suddenly lighten, an endless surge of power coursing through it.
The Fire Lizard flicked its hand, and a chainsaw sword wrapped in energy arcs shot out from its arm armor.
"Wizards, today is your day of death!"
...
While the battle was happening on Murphy's side, the other wizards were not idle either.
Taking advantage of the chaos, they approached the central area, preparing to destroy those incubation chambers, but before they could get close, other Fire Lizards in holy armor found them.
In the eyes of the Fire Lizards, all the hidden wizards were marked.
In the face of the Precursors' creations, the wizards' methods were clearly not secretive enough.
Information about the wizards rapidly popped up, only to be ignored by the Fire Lizards at the same speed.
Thus, the battle began.
The Fire Lizards activated extreme combat mode, charging at the wizards like rabid dogs. The wizards attempted to resist but found the armor on these Fire Lizards had absurdly high magical resistance.
Fireballs from the fire wizard, exceeding five thousand energy levels, struck the armor, and apart from pushing the Fire Lizard back a couple of steps, they left not even a scratch on the armor.
"Stalin, do you have any way to deal with these Fire Lizard armors?"
Theodore, while manipulating gravity to entangle with the armored Fire Lizard, discussed strategies with Stalin, who was most familiar with the Alchemy Machine among the wizards.
But he did not receive a response.
Because at that moment, Stalin had already been dismantled into pieces by two armored lizards working together, even his soul captured by the armor.
The situation was turning unfavorable for the wizards.
...
Outside the breeding base in Luxor City, Barashar watched the battle between the wizards and armored Fire Lizards in the base through a light screen in his office.
Beside him, Toin waited nervously for Barashar's judgment, a nail still faintly visible on his forehead.
"The battles of the Holy Guard are truly something one can never tire of watching," Barashar remarked, then turned to Toin.
With a slight smile on his face, he spoke in a slow, unhurried tone: "Toin, this time we owe it all to you. If it weren't for your defection, these Holy Guards would still be eating for free in the king's palace."
(End of Chapter)