Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

During the Academy War, Richard acquired research materials about the Yuris Black Crystal from Lai Kete.

This energy-rich mineral was regarded by Richard as the hope for popularizing Single Soldier Armor.

However, further research revealed that due to the founder's death, the technology was immature, with many significant issues throughout.

To think that a Power Furnace could be built relying solely on the information provided by Lai Kete was sheer folly.

Furthermore, although the Yuris Black Crystal possessed immense energy, the process of converting this energy into a stable Power Source was also troublesome.

Though he was a Three Rings Wizard, his knowledge reserve was only that of an average Second Ring Wizard, plus the research material's owner was a Shaping Wizard from the Shape-shifting School, which required considerable expertise in Shape-shifting School to perfect and optimize.

Hence, these past years, Richard hadn't prioritized the optimization of the Yuris Black Crystal in his research. He had merely collaborated with Ali for a while, before setting it aside.

But to his surprise, Ali had been persistently working on this project.

No wonder Ali had even borrowed some Magic Essence from him a while back.

"Got it all figured out?" Richard couldn't help but burst into joyful laughter, "This is double the happiness."

"Double happiness?" Ali asked with some confusion, "Have you made another breakthrough in your research?"

Richard chuckled, "Pretty much, you'll see it soon."

...

Together they descended the stairs, arriving at Ali's laboratory.

Richard rarely visited Ali's lab usually, but today he discovered that she had divided it with metal partitions to carve out a semi-spherical small room.

On the walls of the room were small windows, plugged with Enchantment Crystals, presumably for observation.

As they approached the window, they saw a metal platform inside the room, with a piece of black crystal the size of a thumb set into it—the Yuris Black Crystal.

As an Alchemy Wizard, Richard could tell at first glance the metal platform beneath the Yuris Black Crystal was extraordinary.

Many disciplines of the Shape-shifting School and the Alchemy School overlapped.

The foundation of a wizard lies in Runes, and the Shape-shifting School's study of Energy Rune Literature is precisely a subject that the Alchemy School cannot circumvent.

This allowed both schools to understand a fair bit of each other's wizard research.

Ali's metal platform had a multitude of Runes inscribed on it, and she had employed a technique known as stacking multiple Rune Array layers in three-dimensional space to achieve a three-dimensional Magic Array.

With this technique, a wizard could condense a gigantic Magic Array into a tiny platform.

"Impressive, Ali. When did you learn this craft?" Richard looked at Ali with surprise and praise.

He was familiar with the technique, but using it required a decent level of Alchemy and a superior understanding of Rune Studies.

Even for him, he could currently manage only five layers of overlay, while, under Richard's observation with Energy Vision, Ali's platform had an astonishing twelve layers of Rune Array stacked.

Ali glanced at Richard and said with a hint of sigh, "Well, a certain spirited person gave me the materials and then washed his hands of the matter. I had no choice but to learn the skills myself, to help him perfect and optimize this technology."

Unembarrassed by her words, Richard turned his gaze back to the metal platform.

"Start it up. Let's see."

Ali took out a Crystal Ball and fiddled with it. Then Richard saw the energy within the metal platform begin to steadily intensify.

Subsequently, an energy field erupted from the platform. Under its influence, the Yuris Black Crystal began to emit a faint glow, as steady streams of energy flowed down the Magic Conduction circuit into the storage Rune Array below the platform.

"Excellent! This is perfect!" Richard shouted excitedly, "This is more than enough!"

But after the excitement, a thought struck Richard, and he turned to ask:

"Ali, how did you handle the decay radiation emitted by this thing?"

Ali smiled mysteriously and took out another Crystal Ball from her pocket, tapping it.

The next moment, the metal platform ceased operation, and the Yuris Black Crystal calmed down.

Ali pulled Richard to the side, and the next moment, a dark grey beam of light shot out from the enchantment crystal at the observation window.

Ali stepped in front of the window and explained to Richard, "The decay radiation released by the Yuris Black Crystal is absorbed by the Rune Array in the room and stored in this Enchantment Crystal.

Doesn't this device look familiar?"

Eureka hit Richard, "Isn't this the same principle as my Evolution Light Instrument?"

Richard's so-called Evolution Light Instrument was what he used to collect Blue Fire Radiation during his Enhanced Cells experiments.

Ali's device for collecting decay radiation worked on the exact same principle as his.

"Hehe, it's not just the principle that's the same," Ali pronounced with pride, "My Rune Array is optimized. It's more efficient and less energy-consuming than yours."

"Remarkable, truly remarkable," Richard praised sincerely.

As an Alchemy Wizard, his knowledge of Energy Rune Literature wasn't much inferior to an average Shaping Wizard, and for Ali to improve upon his Rune Array designs meant her expertise in Rune Studies was genuinely superior to his.

After the demonstration, Ali pulled a thick, black Magic Book from her pocket.

"These are the design diagrams for the Rune Arrays. Take them home and see if you can compress it further into Magic Equipment. If not, I'll look into making further adjustments."

Richard looked at the Magic Book, scratching his head and said with a bit of embarrassment, "Is this really okay? After all, you're the one who researched this, and not contributing a dime and taking it just doesn't seem quite right. It violates the principle of equivalent exchange."

"Hm?"

Ali looked at Richard, puzzled.

Although she had optimized the technology, without Richard's original technology she certainly wouldn't have been able to achieve this level. Besides, Richard hadn't bound her with any Soul Contract; she could pass this technology on to her students or anyone else in the future.

Overall, what Richard did was take an old technology that she had never seen and exchanged it for an improved new technology.

This was very much in line with the principle of equivalent exchange.

But before Ali could refute, she heard Richard continue, "But this technology is indeed useful for me, and I can't not take it.

Alas, they say only life and knowledge are priceless. It looks like I, a mere Wizard, can't afford Magic Essence and will have to pay with 'life'."

Listening to the emphasis Richard placed on his words and his half-smiling, half-mocking expression, Ali, no fool, could tell Richard was flirting with her.

"Okay then! Feeling bold enough to flirt with me now that you've become a Three Rings Wizard!" Ali's cheeks flushed slightly, and she glared fiercely at Richard. "I'll have you know, I haven't slackened in training my physique these days.

You might not win so easily tonight!"

...

With the optimized technology, the journey to crafting a Power Furnace had become much smoother.

Ali's Rune Array was already very refined, but because it lacked the Pioneer Rune One, there was still plenty of room for improvement.

Richard spent two months to optimize the Rune Array for a second time. Compared to Ali's version, Richard's optimized Rune Array was two layers less, which is a sixth fewer runes.

After the optimization was completed, Richard began to transform these Rune Arrays into appropriate components. Meanwhile, in the Secret Realm, over a hundred Fire Lizard craftsmen also began to work overtime to design Single Soldier Armor that could be paired with the Power Furnace.

In order to design the suitable Power Furnace, Richard made a special trip back to the Tower of Truth from the Garon Wizard College, to seek guidance from his sister Anna, who specialized in Alchemy Mechanical Science.

Over the years, Anna had also broken through to become a Second Ring Wizard. Her status in the Alchemy Gear Society had risen with the tides, and her mastery in Alchemy Mechanical Science had far surpassed what it used to be.

She had now been hired by Richard Jolod as a technical consultant for Richard Jolod's Commerce, specifically responsible for tackling issues related to Alchemy Technology in the company's products.

This was not nepotism but Jolod's acknowledgment of Anna's capabilities.

Returning to the Tower of Truth and seeing the long-missed black Wizard Tower, Richard couldn't help but smile.

He stepped forward and rang the doorbell.

Ding dong...

Soon, a non-human servant opened the door and welcomed Richard inside.

After her promotion to a Second Ring Wizard, Anna's appearance hadn't changed much. The only difference from her One Ring stage was that the layer of active Biological Metal on her body now had many more gold lines.

"My good junior brother, what brings you to me today?"

In the sitting room, Anna, donning a black Wizard Robe, lounged lazily in her chair.

On her unmodified pretty face, two heavy dark circles, as if drawn with a charcoal pencil, were visible.

Wizards, although resilient, would still face problems if they went too long without rest and meditation.

"Sister, you really ought to rest more. Look how pale you are," Richard approached her with concern.

Anna waved her hand dismissively, "No big deal, I'm well aware of my own body. Let's talk about your issue. I've worked on quite a few Power Furnaces, so I should be able to help you.

If I can't, our Society Leader has also been in the Tower of Truth recently, and his expertise in this area exceeds mine.

If I can't help, I'll take you to see him."

"Sister, I really appreciate your concern," Richard thanked her.

"What's there to appreciate?" Anna rubbed her eyes and sat up straight. "The Giant Dragon Alchemy you taught me has been of great help.

I haven't gotten around to properly thanking you for that yet."

After Anna became a Second Ring Wizard, Richard took the opportunity to teach her Giant Dragon Alchemy.

Unexpectedly, after mastering Giant Dragon Alchemy, Anna quickly incorporated it into the Biological Metal she was crafting, and the metal's performance improved by several folds.

This gained her the favor of the leader of the Golden Gear Society and presented her with the opportunity to become the Deputy Dean of the Wanbian Gear Academy.

Richard modestly said, "That's all thanks to your own strength, sister. I was merely a catalyst."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, they quickly got down to business.

Richard laid out all the problems he faced to Anna in great detail. In addition to the design issues surrounding the Power Furnace, there were also many concerns with the design of the Single Soldier Armor.

Anna quickly resolved most of these issues.

Only a few problems required her to consult with several veteran Wizards of the society.

As Richard was solving problems and perfecting the design, after three months of hard work, he finally completed the first version of the Power Furnace design.

He named it the Anna Black Crystal Power Furnace, also known as the Black Crystal Power Furnace.

"Not bad, this design is already very refined. What's left are just some minor details, nothing that affects the overall quality,"

Anna looked at Richard's design, nodding in satisfaction like an examiner, while Richard breathed a sigh of relief.

"If you haven't found any problems with it, Anna, then I can rest easy."

With that said, Richard carefully put away the returned blueprints and took a Crystal Ball out of his pocket.

Within the Crystal Ball, an extremely intricate rune shimmered faintly.

Anna frowned slightly, somewhat annoyed, "What are you doing? You can't expect me to take your money, can you?"

"Hey, take a closer look at this rune, Sister Anna," Richard said with a hint of mystery.

Anna took the Crystal Ball into her hands and examined it closely, but upon inspecting it, her expression turned to one of astonishment.

"This is! This is a complete Mountain Rune!"