Deep within the solitary peak of the island's heart, there lay a dark chamber known to almost no one.
Azuhan sat on the ground, his mind a void.
This was the meditation technique taught to him by Harash, originally intended to cope with the beastly backlash brought on by bloodline awakening, but now it had become a tool for Azuhan to escape reality.
His most trusted wife had knocked him unconscious and surrendered the entire island's Fire Lizard to the Wizard, with whom they had a blood feud.
Such a thing would be intolerable for any Fire Lizard.
Although Akala later explained the reason to him—that the Wizard had brought a terrifying presence capable of matching the Fire Lizard King—Azuhan's heart remained in deep pain.
A glorious death was not something he found unacceptable; if it weren't for the Fire Seed Project and the egg that Akala had borne for him, he would have long since followed his father to die on the battlefield.
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
The stone door of the chamber opened.
Azuhan opened his eyes and looked expressionlessly at the stone door.
Outside the door, Akala was looking at him with a complex expression, and beside her stood the Wizard who had extinguished the last spark of the Fire Lizard.
"Princess Akala, please step aside. I have something to say to him."
"Yes, my lord."
Watching Akala leave obediently, Azuhan felt both heartbroken and furious.
Akala was the princess of the empire; when had she ever been so humble before anyone?
This was the price of signing a contract!
Richard looked at the Fire Lizard before him, its neck swollen and sharp teeth bared, and tossed a helmet to him.
"Your father's helmet."
Azuhan's body stiffened, and he fumbled to catch the helmet.
This was indeed his father's helmet.
As he looked at the helmet, blood tears streamed from the corners of Azuhan's eyes.
His father had died a glorious death, while he had betrayed his expectations.
"Azuhan, you should be aware of the current situation. Don't bury your head in the sand like a coward as if nothing has happened."
Richard gazed quietly at Azuhan, his tone as calm as if he were asking what to have for dinner tonight.
"Your wife has borne the humiliation for you, allowing the halo around you to remain pure. But she is mistaken in one regard: your halo cannot remain pure forever.
Although I have not seen the specific plan for the Fire Seed Project, I can fully imagine the beliefs of the person who devised it."
Azuhan suddenly raised his head, looking at Richard, gritting his teeth and saying:
"You don't understand!"
Richard's expression remained calm: "No, I do understand. This is a plan to continue the Fire Lizard civilization, and as its executor, you must abandon all unnecessary things and devote yourself fully to the ultimate goal of continuing civilization.
Dignity, hatred—these are too trivial compared to the continuation of civilization.
You bear the weight of the Fire Lizard's hundreds of thousands of years of history."
As he spoke, Richard shifted his tone.
"But in my view, the person who designed this plan chose the wrong executor; you are far from capable of fulfilling it. You are more suited to die in the final battle, your decayed glory turned to ashes by spells.
You lack the awareness and responsibility that should come with executing this plan."
Although Richard's voice was calm, it sounded like thunder in Azuhan's ears.
He was furious and wanted to kill Richard, but Ulysses merely glanced at him, freezing him in place as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
Richard looked at Azuhan mockingly: "See? You are even angry enough to kill the person who is helping you continue the Fire Lizard civilization.
Go outside and take a look, fool.
Under my hand, the Fire Lizard is thriving. Akala is even about to issue orders to hatch Fire Lizard eggs."
With that, Richard turned and left.
...
Azuhan walked out of the chamber with the helmet and arrived at the summit of the solitary peak. From the summit, he could see the entire island.
The once desolate New World Island had changed dramatically over the years.
The residential area, which had once been made up of wooden houses, was now filled with neatly arranged concrete buildings. Living in such houses, the Fire Lizard no longer needed to worry about the Foehn Wind and small Fire Elemental Storms.
In the residential area, there was a large square that hadn't existed when he entered the chamber, but now many Fire Lizard were exercising and practicing martial arts within it.
"A training ground?" Azuhan murmured.
When he had led the Fire Lizard, food on the island had been extremely scarce, and all unnecessary consumption had been prohibited.
Even he would not engage in such a resource-intensive activity as exercising.
But now, there was unexpectedly a training ground on the island.
In addition to the training ground, he also saw an open-air giant Flame Behemoth processing area he had never encountered before.
A Flame Behemoth, the size of a small mountain, was being dragged by the Fire Lizard to the open-air processing area, where the Fire Lizard skillfully divided it into useful parts, discarding the useless parts into a steel garbage truck.
The garbage truck was equipped with tracks, and a juvenile volcanic turtle was pulling it along the tracks toward an inconspicuous large flat building.
What shocked him the most was that the working Fire Lizard all wore smiles on their faces.
Azuhan turned to look beside him, and he found that Akala had come to his side without him noticing.
"What is all this... what's going on?"
Akala calmly replied, "After seeing the damage caused by the Foehn Wind, Lord Richard obtained a lot of building materials from the Wizard, then personally planned, designed, and supervised the reconstruction of the residential area."
Azuhan pointed to the Flame Behemoth processing base.
"And that?"
"Lord Richard's Fire Lizard craftsmen upgraded the Voyaging Ship; the current Voyaging Ship is more suitable for hunting Flame Behemoths. However, Flame Behemoths easily rot after leaving the magma, so he established this processing base for handling and storing Flame Behemoths..."
"I'm not talking about that," Azuhan interrupted somewhat roughly. "Why do those Fire Lizard have smiles on their faces? Is dignity worth so little?"
Akala remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking:
"Azuhan, they are not slaves. They are working hard to live with their own labor!"
Azuhan suddenly laughed, but the laughter was filled with bitterness.
"That Wizard was right; I truly am unworthy to lead the Fire Seed Project." Azuhan turned to face Akala. "That Wizard must have left you something."
Akala nodded and took out a Soul Contract from her waist pocket.
Azuhan took the contract, glanced over it, and bitterly smiled: "It's still the same as before, not a bit changed."
With that, Azuhan let blood seep from his fingertip and signed his name on the contract.
Once the contract was completed, a faint smile appeared on Richard's face far away on the mainland.
The last unstable factor among the Fire Lizard had been eliminated.
...
Back in the Wizard World, Richard's Communication Crystal Ball suddenly received a message from an unknown sender.
Looking at the content of the message, Richard's lips curled slightly. He replied to the message and flew toward the residential layer's teleportation portal.
Soon, Richard arrived at the twelfth floor of the residential layer, in front of a tavern called "Volcanic Eruption."
A sign hanging on the tavern's door indicated it was closed for the day, but Richard pushed the door open and entered.
Inside the tavern, a tall Wizard seemed to be waiting for someone. Beneath the Wizard's black robe, his rock-like skin faintly glowed with fire.
Richard greeted him cheerfully.
"Master Moffett, long time no see."
The Wizard who had sent the message was the Third Circle Wizard Moffett, who had once accompanied Richard to the Dragon Beast Breeding Base.
Moffett set down the cup in his hand, which could almost be called a barrel, and pulled out a crystal ball from a large pocket at his waist, placing it on the table in front of him.
"Master Richard, long time no see. I thought you had died in the Crimson Sun World after not hearing from you for so long."
Moffett had sent Richard a message three years ago, but at that time, Richard was busy building the Living Flesh factory in the Crimson Sun World, and he had never received the magical message.
"Haha, you jest, Master. The subsequent wars went smoothly for us. We've weathered great storms; how could I drown in a small puddle?"
Richard walked up to Moffett and pocketed the crystal ball.
This crystal ball contained the blueprints for the Tesla Mark IX Shield Guard Alchemical Golem that Moffett had promised him back then.
"I've always been curious about what method you used to control that armor," Moffett suddenly asked. "It wasn't Sealing Art, nor did it resemble Spellcraft.
I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable, but I couldn't figure out what method you used to paralyze that armor."
"Do you want to know, Master?" Richard countered.
Moffett nodded: "How much Magic Essence?"
Richard smiled and shook his head: "No need for your Magic Essence, Master."
Moffett was taken aback, his voice low: "No Magic Essence? My favor isn't worth a Spellcraft, and I don't like owing favors to anyone."
Richard replied lightly: "Just a small favor, consider it making a friend with the Master."
Moffett remained silent for a long time before speaking: "What Spellcraft?"
"Not Spellcraft, but Alchemy," Richard smiled as he revealed the answer, "and it's an obscure form of Dragon Alchemy."
Upon hearing this answer, Moffett was first stunned, then slapped his forehead in realization:
"I wondered why I couldn't see it was Spellcraft; it turns out it's Alchemy."
With that, Moffett casually summoned a cup of wine to his hand.
"Richard, you are a clever one. This drink is on me."
Richard took the small barrel-like cup, and the amber liquid inside exuded a rich aroma, and within that aroma, he also detected a hint of Magic Potion.
This wine was not simple.
Richard raised the cup, swallowing the amber liquid in one go.
Then he slammed the cup down heavily on the table in front of Moffett, shouting, "Good wine!"
Moffett also raised his cup high, downing it in one gulp and slamming it down on the table with equal force.
He laughed loudly: "Very good! Today, I, Moffett, have made another friend!"
Leaving the tavern, Richard felt a bit dizzy.
Moffett's wine was not just ordinary brew; he had mixed in many Magic Potions, which could even affect the soul.
Richard felt as if his stomach was on fire, the intense heat causing him to sweat profusely.
"Ulysses, what's happening to me?" Richard asked, somewhat dazed.
Ulysses had been perched on his shoulder while he drank.
"Ha, it's nothing. You're drunk. That stone creature's wine is quite good; it has a lot of good stuff mixed in."
Richard felt the scene before him becoming somewhat blurry, and soon he felt his eyelids grow heavy, as if weighed down by lead, constantly drooping.
"Ulysses, take me to the Secret Realm."
With that, Richard fell asleep in the sky.
Ulysses caught Richard and couldn't help but mock: "Ha, one drink and you're out; your tolerance is really poor."
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