In the Lava Sea, a giant whale let out a mournful cry.
This giant whale, now a level three creature, was approaching the end of its life. A massive wound nearly split its body in half, and flames burned in its blood as it continuously poured out from the injury.
"Order to net it."
Next to the Giant Lizard, a level three Fire Lizard, wielding a massive curved blade and carrying a giant spear on his back, issued the command with great authority.
Nearby, a Voyaging Ship threw out iron hooks connected to thick steel cables. The hooks landed on the giant whale, instantly piercing its flesh, and under the effect of the Tree-pattern Diagram, the whale was firmly hooked.
As the whale attempted to resist, the level three Fire Lizard flashed and appeared above its head. The curved blade in his hand transformed into a fierce expression.
Following the ancient ritual of the Flame Behemoth hunters, the Fire Lizard carved a "#" symbol on his chest and then hurled the spear with great force.
Boom! The whale's final struggles stirred up waves in the Lava Sea, but these waves were of no consequence to the ship now known as the Beast Hunting Ship.
The Fire Lizards on board cheered and shouted commands as they tightened the steel cables, beginning the journey back with the whale's carcass in tow.
This whale would provide food for the Fire Lizards on the island for a long time.
...
On the dock, Akala was eagerly awaiting the return of the Beast Hunting Ship.
After losing their agricultural expert, their plan to cultivate Fire Dragon Grass had collapsed, and now the island's food depended entirely on the prey brought back by the Voyaging Ships.
Soon, a cheer erupted from the crowd.
In the distance, a Voyaging Ship was slowly approaching the dock, dragging a massive flaming Giant Lizard. As one ship appeared, the rest of the fleet began to return gradually.
Seeing the returning fleet laden with bounty, Akala couldn't help but feel a surge of joy.
This meat would be enough for the Fire Lizards on the island for half a year.
The crew threw the steel cables onto the shore, and the Fire Lizards on the shore took hold of the cables, working together to pull the enormous Flame Behemoths onto the land.
On the shore, many Fire Lizards had already set up frying pans and bonfires.
Tonight was destined to be a night of revelry.
Suddenly, one Fire Lizard froze in place, dropping the piece of meat he was holding.
He seemed to have seen something.
The other Fire Lizards followed his gaze and saw three black dots gradually approaching the New World.
"Do what you need to do."
Upon seeing the three black dots, Akala immediately shouted to the Fire Lizards on the shore.
Then, with a pair of dragon wings sprouting from her back, she flew to meet the three black dots.
"Lord Richard," Akala said respectfully.
Jolod looked at Akala with some wariness. As a Third Circle Wizard, he could clearly sense that this Fire Lizard was incredibly powerful, even surpassing him.
He couldn't help but wonder how Richard had managed to win over these natives.
Richard nodded and introduced Jolod, "This is Princess Akala, the leader of New World Island. I have made some deals with the Fire Lizards here, and now these people are indigenous employees of our trading company."
Indigenous employees… This was the first time Jolod had heard this term.
"Princess Akala, I am here to set up a teleportation array," Richard explained. "With the teleportation array, you will be able to return freely to the mainland."
Akala was taken aback, then lowered her head and said, "Your kindness is overwhelming."
After landing on the island with Gavin, Richard did not disturb the Fire Lizards, allowing Gavin to scout for a suitable location on his own.
Meanwhile, he wandered around the island with Jolod.
"Richard, why did you choose to establish your territory in this desolate place?" Jolod asked, puzzled.
After exploring the island, Jolod found that there were hardly any resources or phenomena worth studying.
He didn't quite understand Richard's thinking.
Richard pointed to the Flame Behemoths on the shore: "What do you think of those giant beasts, teacher?"
Jolod glanced over, "Semi-Elemental Creatures, their strength is not weak. Are you planning to study these Semi-Elemental Creatures?"
Richard shook his head and took out a sealed vial containing Living Flesh from his pocket.
"Teacher, take a look at this."
Jolod took the vial and opened the seal. In the next moment, a wave of fire element surged out from the vial.
Jolod frowned, "Such a strong fire element, what is this Living Flesh?"
While he might not be familiar with other things, he was absolutely knowledgeable about synthetic beasts, having studied them for half his life. This piece of Living Flesh was unlike any he had seen before.
"This was created using the techniques of these Fire Lizards. They used the Flame Behemoths as raw materials to produce this Living Flesh, and then used this Living Flesh to create their own synthetic beasts."
"Synthetic beasts! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Jolod exclaimed, visibly agitated, "How could these natives master the technology of synthetic beasts? If they had such technology, you wouldn't be able to win this war."
As a Wizard, Jolod could not tolerate the thought that something he had studied for half his life could also be known to the natives of some remote world.
"Calm down, this technology is an ancient legacy of these Fire Lizards. Their civilization has regressed."
Richard did not mention The Lost Ones, as he trusted Jolod, but some things did not need to be shared.
As he spoke, Richard pulled out a stack of blueprints from his pocket.
"These are the designs for their synthetic beasts."
After looking over the blueprints, Jolod's expression turned grim.
The designs for the synthetic beasts on this blueprint were flawless, even considered a masterpiece. If it were the work of some Wizard, Jolod would have readily praised the author.
But now, being told that this was designed by a group of natives, he found it hard to accept.
"Teacher, don't be too arrogant," Richard said lightly, "The Astral World is vast, and Spellcraft is not an impenetrable secret. It is normal for natives to grasp some primitive Spellcraft."
Jolod's expression darkened. For the vast majority of Wizards, natives were seen as a group of uncivilized, inferior beings.
They often held a sense of superiority over these natives.
Now, Jolod's sense of superiority had been shattered.
After brooding for a while, Jolod picked up the Living Flesh again.
"This is good stuff, highly active, and makes for excellent material for synthetic beasts," Jolod evaluated seriously, "Moreover, it possesses some qualities I have never seen before."
After all, Jolod was an old Wizard, and he quickly accepted this fact.
"It indeed possesses certain special qualities," Richard added, "but my abilities are limited, and I cannot fully utilize the excellence of this Living Flesh. So…"
"So you want me to help you study it, hoping to produce some results, right?" Jolod interrupted.
Jolod placed the Living Flesh back into the sealed vial and extended his right hand toward Richard.
Richard, confused, asked, "Teacher, what are you…"
"The remaining blueprints and sufficient blood and flesh," Jolod stated confidently, "You don't expect that this little bit of blood and flesh will allow me to research anything, do you?"
Richard was taken aback, then burst into laughter, handing over all the documents the old Fire Lizard had given him.
"Then I'll leave it to you, teacher."
Three days later, the teleportation array was completed.
Jolod and Gavin returned to the Wizard World, while Richard began construction on New World Island.
Richard chose this territory not just because it was isolated and offered a large area, but his initial goal was to establish a Living Flesh factory on this island.
New World Island was not only remote and inconspicuous, but its best feature was that it was located deep in the Lava Sea, making it easy to obtain Flame Behemoths.
The Semi-Elemental Living Flesh he obtained from Linksa required a large amount of semi-elemental flesh for production, and if built on the mainland, supplying such a large quantity of semi-elemental flesh would indeed be challenging.
After all, the Dragon Beast Breeding Base had the backing of a Fire Lizard empire.
Building the factory naturally required the assistance of Alchemy. The Fire Lizard alchemy workshop in the Secret Realm was shut down, and all the Fire Lizard craftsmen came to New World Island to participate in the construction of the factory.
The construction of the factory required materials, so Richard returned to the mainland and procured a large batch of materials from the logistics Wizards. These building materials were originally intended for constructing fortifications and building works, but now that the war was over, the unused materials had become obsolete.
Richard spent a little money, and the logistics Wizards sold him a large batch of materials.
With the help of Wizard building materials and Dragon Alchemy, the factory's shell quickly took shape in less than a day.
After all, none of these Fire Lizards were below level one; in terms of physical quality, they were all superhuman.
Once the factory shell was completed, Richard began filling in the internal equipment.
Although Richard possessed the technology, it needed to be transformed into machines to be applied.
Richard deconstructed the technology and materialized it into a complete set of machines. Then, he and a group of Fire Lizard Alchemy Masters spent five years, with him as the chief designer and the other Fire Lizard Alchemy Masters as assistants, putting in tremendous effort to finally design and produce the entire set of machines.
Since this technology was obtained from the Fire Lizards, their Dragon Alchemy was highly compatible with it. Moreover, due to Richard's exceptional skills, during this process, the other Fire Lizard Alchemy Masters made significant progress in their alchemical techniques under Richard's guidance.
As the equipment was perfected, the factory was officially completed.
The factory was not large, only about a thousand square meters, and from the outside, it looked like a slightly larger low-rise building.
Without any paint, the factory's exterior appeared gray and gave off a sense of hastiness.
But only the Fire Lizards involved in the construction knew that this unremarkable factory had defensive capabilities that surpassed those of a Wizard's war fortress.
The factory's output was not high; at full capacity, it could only produce about one hundred kilograms of Living Flesh each day.
But for Richard, this factory was already sufficient to meet his needs.
Richard instructed Akala, "This factory should operate at minimal capacity on normal days; your current strength cannot support full operation."
Akala slightly bowed, expressing her gratitude, "Your kindness shines like the sun."
Richard waved his hand, about to leave when suddenly he seemed to remember something and turned to Akala, asking:
"I remember this island is managed by your husband; where is Azuhan?"
Akala's expression darkened for a moment but quickly returned to normal.
"After he learned that I took the lead in signing the contract, he locked himself away and has not come out for these days."
Richard narrowed his eyes and suddenly opened a Mystic Realm Rift, summoning Ulysses.
"Take me to see him."
Akala looked a bit panicked and hurriedly said, "My lord, Azuhan just needs some time to think; he will come to terms with reality eventually. Please forgive him for a while."
Richard waved his hand, "Why are you in such a hurry? I'm not going to kill him.
I will return to the mainland this time, and I obtained something from the logistics Wizards that is related to him. I want to personally give it to him."
Saying this, Richard took out a broken helmet from his pocket.
Akala looked at the helmet, stunned for a moment.
She recognized this helmet; it belonged to Harash.