Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Chapter 109: Chapter 9: Annihilation Flame Rune

The Annihilation Flame, one of the abilities of Ulysses, the master of crows.

It possessed the ability to devour light, held extremely high temperatures, and could ignite the soul; moreover, this flame was very “gentle” and did not possess the expansiveness of regular flames.

This type of flame originated from Ulysses’s Bloodline Talent. Although he had lost his original body, as a World Master, simulating his Talent Ability was effortless.

The reason Richard wanted to see this flame was simple: he wanted to find runes within it.

Runes are the cornerstone of the Wizard World; they are the summation of a wizard’s control over laws. Runes existed in various phenomena, and wizards, by deciphering the appearance of phenomena, would glimpse their essence. @@novelbin@@

To give an imperfect analogy, runes are akin to the various formulas in physics.

...

Richard was very interested in the nature of the Annihilation Flame; according to Ulysses, this flame partially overlapped in nature with the Dark Water Rune. Particularly, the “gentleness” of the Annihilation Flame greatly appealed to Richard.

If he could extract the runes of the Annihilation Flame and combine them with the Dark Water Rune to form a new Water and Fire Annihilation Spell, undoubtedly, this spell would be more stable and powerful than the original Realm of Annihilation.

“When will you be able to use the Annihilation Flame?”

“Not long now, after eating a few more of his fruits, I should be able to use it by the end of this month.”

“You still need to eat his fruits?” Richard couldn’t help but sigh with his hand to his forehead.

The wizard visited by Ulysses was named Aleksey, a wizard from the Soul School. He had planted a Gem Tree in his yard, the fruits of which had nourishing effects on the soul.

“Gah, gah, gah, it’s his fault for shooting a fireball at me,” Ulysses complained angrily.

Originally, seeing the Gem Tree and driven by the nature of a crow, Ulysses wanted to snatch some gem leaves, but Aleksey hit him with a Fireball Technique, nearly turning him into roast bird.

Since then, a feud had formed between the man and the bird.

“Fine, steal if you must, but don’t overdo it,” Richard instructed reluctantly.

For the sake of his research, he had to sacrifice Aleksey’s comfort for now.

Suddenly, a month had passed.

Richard appeased an enraged Aleksey with a forced smile and turned to the laboratory on the second floor.

“It should be ready now, right?”

Richard looked at Ulysses, who was now emanating a faint, hot aura that hadn’t been there before.

“It’s ready, but I can’t guarantee you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Ulysses spat out a wisp of black flame, which immediately raised the temperature of the entire laboratory gradually.

Richard pulled a crystal ball out of his pocket.

This was the crystal ball of Great Wizard Qing Shuang, which stored the Dark Water Rune. Its material was quite extraordinary. Richard had modified it, engraving several magic arrays within the crystal ball to make it capable of withstanding considerable heat.

Using magic power as a guide, Richard drew the Annihilation Flame into the crystal ball and then sealed it with chains of runes emanating from his hands.

The Sealing Skill was a special spell outside of the Six Major Schools. Its sole purpose was to trap items or even living beings within a certain object, place, or even space. When dealing with creatures of immense life energy, wizards often chose to seal them away permanently.

As long as they did not appear, it was as if they were dead.

There were many kinds of sealing skills, each requiring a price, and the prices varied. The Sealing Skill Richard used was called the Rune Chain Sealing Technique, from a book of Encrypted Notes. Using this sealing skill merely required the wizard to expend a significant amount of magic power, arguably the mildest price among sealing skills.

But the effect was also the weakest; he needed to periodically stabilize the seal with magic power.

If it were some immensely powerful sealing technique, he would not need to stabilize it later, but the cost could include memories, lifespan, or even the soul.

The Annihilation Flame was successfully sealed within the crystal ball, and the magic arrays Richard had previously prepared began to show their effects.

Under the high temperature of the Annihilation Flame, the crystal ball merely became extremely hot without melting.

Richard placed it into the water, continuously cooling it down with cold water, quickly bringing the temperature under control.

“Gah, gah, your wizards’ sealing techniques are quite interesting,” Ulysses remarked in surprise. “A mere legend can control my Annihilation Flame with such methods.”

“Wizards have many interesting methods,” Richard responded indifferently. “A wizard’s methods come from wisdom, not from bloodline or some unsystematic experiences.”

…

After sealing the Annihilation Flame, Richard began his research and experiments.

It was a long and arduous process.

Richard had started learning from the Plastic Energy School during his apprenticeship, which provided a solid knowledge base for his current research on the Annihilation Flame.

During this research journey, Ali also became a wizard, which greatly assisted Richard.

Through various physical tests and analyzing the Rune Arrays, Richard successfully decoded the Annihilation Flame in the twentieth year of his research and summarized the Annihilation Flame Rune.

This was undoubtedly great news for Richard.

“Have your runes been created?” Ulysses landed on Richard’s shoulder, looking at the rune on the experiment table.

The rune looked like a cluster of twisted flames, its complex structure dazzling the eyes.

The civilization of the Gods also had something similar to runes. The Lun Rune of the Divine King Thousand Faces could do the same things as Wizard Runes. However, Lun Runes are Law Texts, requiring the observer to possess the strength of a Divine, essentially the World Master, to even see them clearly.

Yet this little one beneath him was merely a Legend. It was unbelievable that he could also create something similar.

Richard infused magic into the rune on the test bench, and the next instant, a wisp of pitch-black flame was born from the rune.

“Look, is it your Annihilation Flame?” Richard said proudly.

Ulysses drew the flame towards him and then swallowed it whole.

His eyes widened immediately, mouth slightly agape, as if he had witnessed something unimaginable.

“Ga! It really is the Annihilation Flame!”

Richard nodded in satisfaction, then wiped away the rune.

The Annihilation Flame Rune was just the first step in Richard’s plan; he needed to merge the Dark Water Rune with the Annihilation Flame Rune using a Rune Array to ultimately create a spell that was uniquely his.

Richard glanced at the laboratory’s wall clock.

“Is it already two in the afternoon? Time really flies.”

After becoming a wizard, eating was no longer a necessity for Richard, so sometimes when he was immersed in research, he would neglect the time and spend days and nights in the laboratory.

Upon leaving the laboratory, Richard swept the area with his spiritual power and found his two demi-human servants—they were sunbathing in the yard.

Richard’s life was very simple, and since he was often soaking in the laboratory, these two demi-human servants, aside from cleaning the room, had almost nothing else to do and lived leisurely lives.

At the thought from Richard, Kemonomimi Number One received the message.

“Master has come out, I should go cook,” Number One informed Number Two and immediately went to the kitchen on the first floor of the Wizard Tower and started preparing food.

The training from the Slave Trading Company was very thorough; Number One’s culinary skills were very proficient, and in just half an hour, she had filled the entire dining table with dishes.

Richard observed her; when he had bought this Kemonomimi, she was only about sixteen years old, with fur looking youthful and glossy. Now, looking again, Number One’s fur had become somewhat dull.

Richard touched Number One’s ears, signaling her to go back to sunbathing.

“After becoming a wizard, my perception of time has become more and more dull. I can’t believe twenty years feel like not long ago,” Richard sighed.

Ulysses, perched upon his shoulder, squawked loudly:

“Ga! You think this is a long time? Just wait until you become a Divine. Then, two hundred years will pass in the blink of an eye.

This is the necessary path for a short-lived species to transform into a longevity species.”

Richard didn’t say anything else, silently finishing all the dishes on the table.

Number One’s skills were quite good; each dish on the table was complete with color, fragrance, and taste. After finishing, Richard considered whether to increase Number One’s purchasing budget to let her buy more expensive ingredients for cooking.

With such good cooking skills, it would be a pity not to use quality materials.

After eating, Richard walked out of the Wizard Tower. The sunshine outside was bright, the sky sparkling with flowing light.

“Richard, you finally decided to come out.”

A stream of light fell in front of Richard, transforming into an exceptionally beautiful woman shimmering with flames.

“Ali, long time no see,” Richard greeted lazily.

Influenced by Great Wizard Susanna, after becoming a wizard, Ali integrated the blood of a Fire Element creature, causing her body to partially undergo elementalization. Therefore, now every movement she made sparked flames.

“Have you completed your rune research?” Ali asked curiously.

“Mm,” Richard nodded.

“Do you need my help?”

Richard scratched his head, pondering over his research direction.

“I need a bit of help with knowledge. I need some magic books on Water and Fire Element Spells, and the rings don’t need to be high, First Ring or Second Ring will do.”

According to Richard’s plan, he wanted to use two rare runes to create a new spell; naturally, this required a lot of knowledge about Rune Arrays. Looking more at other spells would help him gain a broader understanding.

“That’s easy, but what will you trade for it?” Ali approached Richard, a seductive smile on her lips.

Ali was well aware of Richard’s collection of Encrypted Notes; even during his apprenticeship, Richard had decoded a Bloodline Alchemy Formula from the Encrypted Notes, and now he was extensively collecting them, easily leading Ali, someone who knew him well, to speculate.

Richard pulled out a scroll from his Magic Pocket and threw it to Ali.

“How about this? A Fire Element Amplifying Rune Array.”

Ali looked at it and immediately agreed to the trade.

“That’s enough, I’ll bring the items over in a bit.”

Half an hour later, Richard received dozens of scrolls that recorded Magic Models.

“Sigh, knowledge is boundless, learning never ends. Let’s continue researching.”