The battle ended somewhat abruptly, but the outcome was already clear.
Fire Lizard's last hope, Fire Lizard King Morik, was defeated.
At the entrance of the mine, the miners summoned by Richard wore sorrowful expressions; they knew that the Fire Lizard clan had completely lost hope.
Standing aside, Richard watched this scene and subtly nodded.
This was the effect he wanted.
He knew that before this, these Fire Lizards still held unrealistic fantasies in their hearts, believing that Fire Lizard King could lead them to drive away the Wizards once more.
But now, that fantasy had been shattered.
A relatively young Fire Lizard, upon seeing Morik flee, suddenly pulled a small knife from his belt and plunged it fiercely into his own neck.
"Herald, what are you doing!"
The surrounding Fire Lizards immediately rushed to stop the young Fire Lizard from doing something foolish. But before they could act, they saw Herald's body freeze in place, a magical chain emerging from beneath his feet, binding him so he could not move.
The Fire Lizards looked towards Richard, who silently retracted his finger and calmly said:
"Suicide is truly foolish.
I told you when I took you in to abandon those unrealistic fantasies and work hard to live well in the present.
Clearly, some of you did not heed that advice."
The Fire Lizards silently looked at Richard, recalling his words when he brought them to the mine.
"Work hard here and give up unrealistic fantasies. Working for me is definitely ten times better than working under the Fire Lizard nobles."
At that time, they had dismissed those words as mere noise.
Now, that noise had turned into a storm.
Richard moved his finger, dispelling the spell on Herald, and the surrounding Fire Lizards seized the opportunity to snatch the knife from his hand.
After failing to commit suicide, Herald covered his face and cried bitterly, his sobs quickly spreading throughout the mine, even causing Heskhan, who had already become a loyal lackey to the Wizards, to feel a pang in his heart.
If given a choice, who would want to be a lackey?
Richard observed this scene in silence; this was how wars between races unfolded.
"Heskhan, take a half-day off today. Dinner remains unchanged; Flame Behemoth meat is still unlimited."
Heskhan was taken aback, looking at Richard with confusion, then bowed his head and said, "Yes, my lord. You treat us better than our own kind."
Richard smiled and said nothing more.
These Fire Lizards were not just miners; in the future, they would also bear the responsibility of producing Magic Potions and forming the Dragon Beast Knights.
If he didn't consolidate their hearts at this moment, how could he carry out his plans later?
He took a box of Red Sun Gold-Vein Stone from the warehouse and turned to enter the Secret Realm.
Under Richard's development over the years, the Secret Realm had changed dramatically.
The center of the Secret Realm still housed the World Mushroom, but beyond the cap of the World Mushroom, an invisible line divided the Secret Realm into two.
To the east of the Secret Realm was the territory of the Holy Tree Sprites, who cultivated flowers and magical plants there, while on the other side, several massive alchemical machines connected by conveyor belts occupied nearly half the space, with a few Fire Lizard Alchemy Masters supervising hundreds of Fire Lizard alchemy apprentices working in shifts on the conveyor belts.
Over the years, Richard's planned Fire Lizard alchemy workshop had taken shape. He had spent a considerable amount of Magic Essence to exchange for Fire Lizards knowledgeable in Alchemy from other Wizards.
The alchemy workshop in the Secret Realm had gradually expanded from a few Fire Lizard Alchemy Masters to the current assembly line.
However, this alchemy workshop could currently only produce relatively low-tech items, such as pickaxes for Fire Lizards to mine and certain mechanical parts for the Magic Support Vehicle.
The mass production of armor plates was still nowhere in sight.
But he had long been mentally prepared for this; such high-tech items would certainly not be produced on an assembly line for a considerable time.
Richard carried the box and strode to the other half of the alchemy workshop.
This space served as the dormitory for the Fire Lizards and a materials warehouse. Richard tossed the Red Sun Gold-Vein Stone into the warehouse and turned to find a Fire Lizard Alchemy Master.
"Tarhe, I've brought the Red Sun Gold-Vein Stone. What do you need this for?"
Tarhe was currently inspecting the work area, and the noisy clamor of the Alchemy Machines forced Richard to concentrate to communicate with him.
Upon seeing Richard, Tarhe immediately bowed and then gestured for Richard to leave the work area.
In the Fire Lizards' usual rest area, there was a soundproof Magic Array, and as soon as Richard entered the rest area, his ears were instantly met with silence.
"Lord Richard, you've brought the items, right?" Tarhe said loudly, his voice making Richard's scalp tingle.
Having spent a long time in the work area, Tarhe's voice had become quite loud; speaking at close range, his voice could rival some Wizard apprentices' sound-based spells.
"Lower your voice, I can hear you." Richard said somewhat helplessly, then took out a small piece of Red Sun Gold-Vein Stone from his pocket and handed it to Tarhe.
"What do you need this for? Can this stuff be used to make alloys?"
In Dragon Alchemy, alloys were the most basic skill. Although Dragon Alchemy could change the properties of metals, there were limits to those changes. Moreover, different materials had different limits in various aspects.
Thus, making alloys became the foundational skill of Dragon Alchemy.
"My lord, you can try that; I haven't tried using this to make alloys."
Tarhe lowered his voice a bit, but it was still loud.
"Get to the point!"
Seeing Richard a bit angry, Tarhe hurried to his bed and pulled out a box filled with soft Mycelium. Inside the box was not some rare treasure, but an ordinary ink bottle.
"My lord, take a look at this. I made it using the Red Sun Gold-Vein Stone you brought before."
Richard took the ink bottle with some confusion and opened it, a rich fire element instantly bursting forth from the bottle, nearly singeing Richard's eyebrows.
Looking at Tarhe, he saw the oblivious Fire Lizard awkwardly laughing, "Haha, the fire element is released, purely an accident."
Richard used magic to extract a drop of the liquid from the bottle.
The liquid looked as red as blood and emitted a scorching aura.
"What is this?"
"My lord, this is ink."
"Ink?"
Richard was taken aback, then quickly pulled out a feather pen from his pocket. He dipped it in the ink and infused it with magic; the magic mixed with the ink along the pen shaft, igniting a flame at the tip.
Richard took out a metal plate from his pocket and began to draw runes on it with the flaming feather pen. The pen glided gently over the metal plate, leaving a clear trail of fire where it passed.
As Richard completed the last stroke, a rune burning with flames took shape on the metal plate.
Richard infused the rune with magic, and under the influence of the magic, the flame of the rune gradually became more vigorous, eventually maintaining a dazzling intensity.
At this intensity, the rune was operating at full capacity.
But soon, the flames on the rune began to dim, eventually fading away.
"Incredible, this is truly incredible."
Richard looked at the rune, his expression shifting from astonishment to fear.
Tarhe had actually produced alchemical ink that required Wizard Alchemy to create! This Fire Lizard had accomplished what the ancient Wizards had once done in stealing fire.
"How did you do this?"
Richard suppressed his shock and asked as calmly as possible.
Tarhe scratched his chin, looking a bit embarrassed as he said, "I'm not quite sure, my lord. You know, we tried to produce ink before. Although we didn't succeed, there were some leftover materials in the warehouse. One day, I was bored after drinking, so I took some and followed the process for making ink.
But making this ink requires your Alchemy Array, right?
I had a bit too much to drink, so I activated the Alchemy Array component you made before. I can't remember how I activated it, but I did.
I don't remember much after that, but when I woke up, this thing was done."
After hearing Tarhe's words, Richard rubbed his tightly furrowed brows; Tarhe didn't seem to be lying.
This thing was likely something he had randomly concocted while drunk.
This Fire Lizard was truly lucky; he had messed around without causing an accident and ended up with a finished product.
Putting aside his distractions, Richard spoke firmly to Tarhe:
"Very good, this thing of yours is quite useful. I will supply you with unlimited Red Sun Gold-Vein Stone; don't busy yourself with anything else for now, and quickly work out the formula and production process for this ink.
Once you have it ready, I'll give you all a half-year holiday!"
Tarhe was momentarily stunned, then immediately rejoiced, "Yes, my lord!"
He hadn't expected that the thing he had drunkenly created would receive such importance from Richard.
Watching Tarhe leave joyfully, a hint of conflict flashed through Richard's mind.
The talent for civilizing races was indeed not something ordinary natives could compare to.
Tarhe couldn't see the significance of this ink, but Richard, as a Wizard, certainly could.
This ink not only met the standards of Advanced Alchemy Ink but also had an additional feature that displayed the completeness of the rune.
Enchantments cannot exist permanently; any Magic Equipment has a potential number of uses. The completeness of a rune is one of the standards for measuring the newness of a Magic Equipment.
The alchemical ink used to draw runes would gradually wear away and disappear with the environment and time, but this kind of wear is often hard to detect with ordinary alchemical inks, while the runes drawn with this ink could reflect subtle changes in the runes through the intensity of the flames.
Inks with similar functions are widely used in the production of various large Alchemy Machines, making the market quite broad.
But such excellent ink was not created by a Wizard; its creator was actually a native slave looked down upon by Wizards.
This was simply a provocation.
This was a trampling of Wizard wisdom by a foreign creature! If other Wizards encountered this, Tarhe would already be a corpse, and the remaining Fire Lizards would be eliminated as well.
Wizards have always preferred to err on the side of caution, never letting anything slip by.
However, this group of Fire Lizards encountered Richard, who was a humble Wizard.
He did not see this as a provocation.
Knowledge does not suddenly appear because the explorer is a Wizard, nor does it hide because the explorer is a Fire Lizard.
Truth, equal treatment for every being.
(End of Chapter)