Fireballs filled the sky, racing in from the distant horizon like shooting stars, tracing fiery arcs across the sky and flashing a heart-stopping red light.
They descended like a rain of fire that could end the world, bringing with them a suffocating wave of heat as they plummeted towards the tightly pursuing Fire Lizard squad below.
The Fire Lizards, already somewhat disorganized from the chase, were thrown into chaos by the sudden fireball attack. The immense impact and the rampant turbulence of fire elements mercilessly consumed everything in their path. The Fire Lizards fled in terror, but the relentless barrage of fireballs left them nowhere to hide.
The air was thick with the smell of charred flesh and the piercing screams of the Fire Lizards, transforming the entire scene into a hell on earth.
The captain stared blankly at the chaos, suddenly understanding why the crystal ball had repeatedly warned them not to slow down.
If they had reduced their speed even slightly, the firestorm would have engulfed more than just the Fire Lizards.
Had the command center sent an entire legion to support them?
At the source of the fireballs, Richard, wearing his eagle-eye glasses, quietly observed the effects of the Magic Support Vehicle.
In just thirty seconds, the two teams had launched a total of thirty-six thousand fireballs, nearly equivalent to the spell barrage of a White Wizard Legion.
And his cost was merely three hundred Magic Essence.
The other Alchemist Wizards watching this scene were filled with disbelief. They had only learned how to operate the Magic Support Vehicle and how to maintain it.
This was their first real combat experience.
Before the battle, they had estimated the potential of this new weapon, but they never imagined the effect of the Magic Support Vehicle's barrage would be so terrifying.
"Everyone, focus."
Richard's slightly proud voice snapped the Alchemist Wizards out of their shock. They looked at Richard, their eyes filled with disbelief and… respect.
This respect was not due to Richard's strength; many of these Alchemist Wizards were second-ring Alchemist Wizards themselves.
What they respected was Richard's wisdom. The firepower of the Magic Support Vehicle had deeply impressed them. In this era where Wizard academies were also military academies, the pursuit of weaponry was ingrained in every Alchemist Wizard's bones.
"Master Richard."
"Master Richard."
"Master Richard."
… The Alchemist Wizards present saluted Richard with a Wizard's gesture. The title "Master Richard" was no longer mere politeness but came from the heart. However, Richard felt a bit embarrassed.
In his view, he was just lucky; in terms of true talent and learning, the Alchemist Wizards present were likely stronger.
After all, he was only a little over three hundred years old.
"Master Richard, what should we do next?" one Wizard asked.
"Ahem, everyone, there's no need to be like this," Richard said, slightly awkward. "I'm just a technical consultant, responsible for handling those difficult-to-repair malfunctions. You should proceed as you were trained.
You're making me feel a bit embarrassed."
The Wizards burst into laughter, and they began to operate according to their training procedures.
The first support mission of the Magic Support Vehicle team was successfully completed.
…
The situation of the war was constantly changing. In the early stages, the Fire Lizards had dealt a blow to the Black Wizards, causing the Wizards to lose their intelligence advantage, which made them somewhat uncomfortable. This discomfort led to the Fire Lizards breaking through the weak points in the defense.
But every Wizard in the command center was battle-hardened. After experiencing the initial setbacks of the war, they immediately began to remedy the situation.
According to the Fire Lizards' plan, these breaches were supposed to collapse the entire defense line. However, the Wizards had clearly anticipated this possibility. Under the command center's direction, the second line of defense was quickly put into use, greatly slowing the Fire Lizards' advance.
Although the Fire Lizards' plan to break through the defense line was indeed successful, from the perspective of their goals, it seemed to have failed.
While they had recaptured a significant amount of lost ground, the Wizards' defense line had not collapsed.
The Wizards had invested enormous forces, and the heavily armed fortress cities acted like sharp spikes, continuously draining the already weakened Fire Lizard Empire.
For a time, the war fell into a bizarre stalemate.
The Fire Lizards began to replan their offensive, while the Wizards focused on solidifying the second line of defense and began constructing a third line.
No one knew how long this stalemate would last; it could end tomorrow, in a week, or they might receive notice at any moment to begin a new round of warfare.
This stalemate provided Richard's firefighting team on the battlefield with a rare moment of leisure.
The performance of the firefighting team was widely praised among the supported Wizards, who hailed it as a brilliant weapon, and the higher-ups of the legion truly had an eye for talent. Naturally, this performance reached the ears of the command center through various channels.
Thus, during this time, the tasks assigned to the firefighting team became increasingly perilous.
After all, the magical components procured by the legion were limited, and it was unrealistic to have Richard conjure up a large number of magical components on short notice.
Therefore, adhering to the principle of using good steel on the blade, the command center assigned increasingly dangerous tasks to the firefighting team.
Before entering the stalemate phase, the firefighting team had already been deployed twelve times, and the remaining magical components were only enough for three small teams to operate once.
As a result, most members of the team had returned to the White Wizard squad, where every Wizard was crucial at this juncture.
In the parking lot, Richard lay in the cockpit of the Magic Support Vehicle, leisurely soaking up the sun.
It was December in the Crimson Sun World, a month when the sky had only one sun, and the sunlight was perfect for sunbathing.
"Hey, that guy is watching you again."
Ulysses lay beside Richard on a chair woven from mycelium.
"Who, Damir?"
"Yeah, that guy."
Since their last conversation had been interrupted by a mission, Damir had not approached Richard again, and Richard was quite content with that.
Richard frowned slightly. "What does this guy want now?"
"Who knows? Why don't you go ask him?"
"Forget it."
Not far from Richard, Damir was organizing his thoughts, trying to succinctly convey his purpose to Richard.
He pulled a bottle of Magic Potion from his pocket, downed it in one gulp, and then strode towards Richard. But just a few steps in, Richard suddenly appeared in the shadow before him.
"Damir, what do you want from me?"
Damir was taken aback. Why had Master Richard come over? Had he been watching him all along?
"Master Richard, do you remember last time I wanted to share an idea with you…"
Richard waved his hand, somewhat brusquely interrupting, "No need for small talk, let's get straight to the point. What's your purpose?"
"Uh… to put it simply, I want to seek academic funding from you."
"Academic funding?"
Richard was momentarily stunned. Academic funding referred to investments in the Wizard society. Many Wizards had good ideas but, due to their own strength issues, were hesitant to enter the planar battlefield to make big money, causing their research to stagnate due to lack of financial support.
At this time, if a Wizard wanted to continue their research, they needed to find an academic sponsor—essentially a financial backer. They would then present their ideas and the potential outcomes to the sponsor—essentially painting a grand picture to attract investment.
Academic sponsors would often sign a contract with the Wizard, providing a large amount of Magic Essence either in one lump sum or in installments, while the Wizard would need to share the results with the sponsor upon completion of the research.
Richard was surprised for a simple reason: such funding was typically something only large Wizard guilds would engage in. His own newly established small guild had minimal profits; where would he find spare money to fund others?
Moreover, Damir was already on the battlefield; how much money did his research require that he needed to seek another academic sponsor?
"Uh, Damir, I think you might be mistaken about our guild…"
"Master, please don't rush to reject me. Just take a look at my results first."
As Damir spoke, he pulled out a metallic sphere the size of a human head, its surface engraved with dense runes, and at both ends, two Magic Essences were supplying power to the sphere.
"Master, take a look at this."
Richard took the sphere, using his mental energy to probe what this metallic sphere was.
However, this probe startled Richard, causing him to almost drop the object.
Inside the metallic sphere were two highly concentrated water and fire elements, separated by a thick Magic Barrier, preventing any annihilation reaction. But given the concentration of these two elements, if a reaction occurred, both he and Damir nearby would be instantly vaporized.
Richard carefully returned the metallic sphere to Damir, urging him to put it back in his pocket.
"This is what you wanted to show me? A massive bomb utilizing the annihilation reaction of water and fire?"
Richard wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and immediately summoned Ulysses with a mental message.
Although Damir's protective measures were adequate, Richard still felt a chill run down his spine.
"Yes, Master, isn't it beautiful?" Damir said excitedly. "Master, I've found a fantastic method for concentration that can condense these two elements to an astonishing degree. Next, I just need to work on the Rune Array to keep these two elements separated…"
"Stop."
Richard raised a hand, interrupting the garrulous Damir, and pulled out an annihilation bomb from his pocket.
"First, take a look at this."
Damir took the annihilation bomb with confusion, and his face soon displayed a look of shock.
"W-what is this…"
Damir pointed at the annihilation bomb, struggling to articulate a complete sentence.
"This is a little gadget I made during my apprentice days," Richard said nonchalantly. "At that time, my rune skills weren't sufficient, so I used physical materials for containment.
From the results, it's quite effective, though the kill radius is a bit small."
Damir felt as if his brain was smoking; he had never considered such a simple solution of abandoning the Rune Array in favor of physical material containment over the past few hundred years.
But this wasn't just his issue; most Wizards had a path dependency on runes.
Richard took back the annihilation bomb, also waking Damir from his daze.
"However, your method of concentrating elements is quite interesting. Let's discuss it in detail after the war, shall we?"
Richard had always struggled to bring the cost of the annihilation bomb down to a reasonable level, and Damir's appearance gave him a new idea.
Since he couldn't lower the cost, why not try to enhance the power of the annihilation bomb instead?
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