"Is war about to start again?"
Richard watched Vladimir's retreating figure and muttered to himself.
For Wizards, war was both a risk and an opportunity. New knowledge and new dangers would arise together; whether one could take advantage was a matter of the Wizard's own abilities.
Leaving the twenty-third residential floor, Richard returned to the Wizard Tower and opened the passage to the training room.
He took off his Wizard Robe and changed into a training suit made of metal. This suit, looking much like armor, was made of a high-density alloy and weighed an astonishing five hundred kilograms. Under the influence of the Gravity Room, the suit weighed a hefty five tons,
Wearing such a training suit, Richard entered the Gravity Training Room and began his day's training.
Training emphasized gradual progression, so Richard started with double gravity to warm up. Then, as the gravity increased bit by bit, a fine layer of sweat began to appear on his skin.
Richard's training methods were simple: squats, push-ups, jogging, etc.—activities that seemed no different from those of ordinary people. However, under tenfold gravity, every move Richard made while wearing the training suit required a great deal of effort.
During such intense workouts, relying solely on the energy from food and fat was clearly insufficient, so magic power became Richard's source of energy.
To meet Richard's needs, his body cells began to crazily absorb magic power from the air. Also, because of the training for the Adaptation Body, Richard's muscles, bones, and even organs underwent extremely minute changes under this regimen.
This indicated that Richard's body was gradually adapting to moving in a high-gravity environment.
If Richard could continue training in a high-gravity environment while wearing the training suit for five to six hundred years, his body would undergo tremendous changes.
Unfortunately, Richard was using the Gravity Training Room, and using the training room required a large number of Magic Stones.
Under tenfold gravity, the Gravity Training Room burned through ten Magic Stones every minute.
With his regular training time lasting two hours a day, this meant he would expend four hundred thirty-eight Magic Essence in a year, and four thousand three hundred eighty in ten years.
With such consumption, Richard even had to consider reducing his training time.
Although he had earned a lot of Magic Essence through trade, he still needed to provide after-sales service to the White Wizard Army and structural upgrades for the Magic Support Vehicle. These expenses may not seem apparent in the short term, but looking in the long term, Richard had to prepare some Magic Essence for unexpected needs.
After finishing training, Richard shut down the Gravity Training Room and took off the training suit.
At that moment, Richard's skin was flushed red, emanating steam. His muscles bulged with blue veins, as large drops of sweat continuously seeped out and trailed down, leaving wet paths across his chiseled muscles.
After resting for a moment, Richard took out a Crystal Ball and checked his various stats.
[Spiritual Power: 110, Physique: 112.3, Magic Power: 22000]
"Huff, not bad, an increase of twelve in physique over ten years. Once the Dragon Transformation Battle Body is perfected, the rate of physique increase should be even faster."
Over the past ten years, Richard had also been continuously cultivating the Dragon Transformation Battle Body, but unfortunately, he had only developed a single Dragon Breath Bag. After transplanting the Dragon Breath Bag, Richard now possessed the capacity for Giant Dragon Breath.
There were many kinds of Giant Dragon Breaths, with the most common being the Fire Element Breath. But there were also special breaths like Frost Assault, Dark Erosion Breath, and Poison Mist Breath.
What Richard had was a variant of the Fire Element Breath—the Blue Flame Breath. Its flames were several times hotter than the common Fire Element Breath, but its range was much narrower. What should have been a fan-shaped area of effect had become almost a single line with Richard's Blue Flame Breath.
However, Richard didn't mind this, as Breath was just an addition for him, and he had not intended to use the Dragon Flame Bag for combat but rather as an aid for Alchemy.
Exiting the training room, Richard went to the adjoining laboratory's training field.
The floor of the training field, solidified with alchemy machines and reinforced with Runes, was marked with clear footprints.
The owner of these footprints was, of course, Richard.
In the center of the training field, a black boulder sat. It was a piece of Mountain Essence, which Richard had purchased from Jimmy for one hundred Magic Essence.
And naturally, its purpose was to train in the Mountain Path.
Richard had four Mountain Path techniques at his disposal: Worldly Transmission of Rock-Breaking Fist, Secret Mountain Breaking Fist, Secret Mountain Body Forging, and the exclusive Fist Intent of the Changshan Temple's abbot.
Of these four Mountain Path techniques, Mountain Refining Body was used as an auxiliary training tool, and Beng Stone Fist had already been perfected by Richard. He had also grasped the essence of Fist Intent after decades of study, leaving only the deep research and diligent practice.
Only the most precious Secret Fist Technique of Changshan Temple, the Mountain Breaking Fist, had remained elusive for Richard to master.
In Mountain Breaking Fist, the character for 'breaking' was of the utmost importance.
The predecessors of Changshan Temple had used this technique to carve out the original Changshan Temple from the mountains, one fist at a time.
No need to mention the hardness of the mountains in the Mountain World; when the founder of Changshan Temple carved out the temple, he was just a Second-level Creature.
The fact that a Second-level Creature could carve out the Changshan Temple on the hard mountains was not only a testament to incredible perseverance but also to the profoundness of the Fist Technique.
Under Mountain Breaking Fist, the as-hard-as-mountain Mountain Essence would instantly turn into rubble, and regular rocky mountains would even be reduced to dust.
No matter how Richard swung his fists following the secret instructions, the punches he threw were always ordinary.
Approaching the Mountain Essence, Richard took a deep breath, adjusted his energy circulation, and swung his fist fiercely!
A muffled sound came from the Mountain Essence as Richard retracted his fist, and a clear imprint of his punch now stood out on the black essence of the mountain.
"Alas, it's still no good," Richard sighed. "What on earth is that 'Breath of the Mountains' mentioned in the Secret Transmission?
Could it be the heartbeat of the Mountain Heart?
But Mountain Breaking Fist can also be used against foes, right?"
Looking at the Mountain Essence, Richard was utterly perplexed; on a normal day, he would have set aside his troubles and continued training other aspects of the Mountain Path, attempting to gain insights through analogy.
But today, Vladimir had brought him news of war, which caused Richard to feel a trace of restlessness.
He turned and left the basement, after donning a Wizard Robe, he flew toward the Teleportation Gate of the Tower of Truth.
Soon, Richard's figure appeared in the Duel Arena of the living quarters on the eleventh floor.
The Duel Arena was as bustling as ever, with wizards in the stands loudly cheering on their chosen contestants, continuously throwing Magic Stones or Magic Essence onto the attendants' trays, increasing their stakes.
Richard made his way through these wizards to find Jimmy, who was cheering on the contestants.
"Hey, Richard, what brings you here? Did that Mountain Essence break you down?"
Jimmy wiped the sweat from his forehead, the sunlight shining on his head, gleaming brightly.
Richard shook his head: "Master, are there any suitable opponents for me in the club recently? I feel I need to fight to grasp certain techniques."
"Fight! Richard, you've finally realized that what we physique evolving wizards need most is combat!
We grow in battle, break through in battle, and unleash the most brilliant light of our lives in battle!
Behold! The radiance of combat!"
With Jimmy shouting loudly, the two wizards in the Duel Arena also decided the victor and the vanquished.
The defeated wizard was sent flying, while the victor stood in the center of the field and let out a deafening roar at the audience!
Raucous cheers like a tidal wave erupted from the Duel Arena, regardless of whether the wizards had lost or won their bets, they were now shouting the name of the victor!
"Urdar! Urdar! Urdar!"
In the Duel Arena, the wizard named Urdar raised his arms high, responding to the audience's calls with roars.
Before long, the crowd dispersed, as the Duel Arena hosted only one match per day. After the match ended, the Duel Arena became the private area of the Jialong Club.
Richard watched as Urdar left the Duel Arena, his face showing fatigue. He approached the fallen opponent, helped him up, and then entered the inner area of the Duel Arena together.
Jimmy told Richard to warm up first; he would go find a suitable opponent.
Shortly after, Jimmy returned to the Duel Arena with a wizard draped in a black robe.
"Richard, you're in luck, this is Has, also a newly promoted Second Ring Wizard. But he has more combat experience than you, so you'd best be prepared for a beating,"
Jimmy introduced Has, while Has's gaze had already fixed on Richard.
"Dragon Transformation?" Has asked in a low voice.
"Sort of," Richard replied indifferently. "My emotions are stable, don't worry about me losing control during the fight."
Since Richard had not officially fought with any club members before, Jimmy had to explain the rules of combat to him before the fight.
In battle, both parties must give it their all and not resort to mockery or stubborn struggling, as that would be disrespectful to the opponent.
Secondly, the combatants must be mindful of the force of their attacks, for it is only a spar, and it would be unfortunate should it lead to a fatality.
Finally, there are two types of combat: with and without Magic Equipment.
Combat with Magic Equipment has a limit on the usage of gear, with a maximum of three pieces of Magic Equipment per person, and none may be of high-powered, direct damage type.
After the rules were explained, Richard chose to fight without Magic Equipment, allowing him to better utilize the Mountain Path and comprehend its mysteries.
Has agreed to Richard's style of combat, and both removed all their Magic Equipment.
After Jimmy's verification, they both took off their Wizard Robes and entered the Duel Arena.
As per the protocol, both announced their names and academies.
The two stood on opposite ends of the Duel Arena, with Has on the left side speaking first:
Richard nodded slightly:
"Black Tower Wizard Academy, Richard."
As soon as Richard finished speaking, Has's figure suddenly vanished.
With names and academies announced, what remained was the battle itself!