Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the day of the Wizard Tower's completion arrived.
After confirming with Toshio, Richard quickly packed up his belongings in the laboratory and prepared to move to his new home.
"Hey, Richard, where are you off to?"
Richard hurried out of the laboratory and immediately ran into a Wizard who greeted him.
This Wizard was as burly as an iron tower, with robust muscles and a layer of metallic sheen on his skin, which reminded Richard of a character from a movie he had seen in his past life—Colossus.
"Long time no see, Stio. My Wizard Tower is finished, and I'm planning to move in," Richard replied with a smile.
Stio, like Richard, was a Third Circle Wizard. However, unlike Richard, he was a genuine Third Circle Wizard who had earned his rank through sheer effort.
Legend had it that he had advanced to the Third Circle during a battle that nearly cost him his life.
For the past two years, Richard had lived across from him, and since both were Third Circle Wizards, they had become quite familiar.
"Your Wizard Tower is finished?" Stio was momentarily stunned, then congratulated him with a smile, "Congratulations, congratulations.
Indeed, it's not fitting for a Third Circle Wizard like you to always stay in the experimental area."
"How about coming over for a visit?" Richard invited.
Stio shook his head with some regret, "Another time. I can't leave the laboratory for the next few months."
Seeing Stio's polite refusal, Richard didn't press further and simply said, "Alright, make sure to come over when you have the time."
"Definitely, definitely."
Once out of the academy, a biting cold wind mixed with snow and ice hit him in the face.
Without making a move, Richard conjured a barrier of air in front of him, blocking the wind and snow.
He took out a map, confirmed his direction, and then transformed into a streak of light, flying towards the distance.
...
On the tundra, Toshio stood quietly outside the Wizard Tower with the construction team of Wizards, waiting for Richard's arrival.
As a streak of light descended, Toshio immediately stepped forward to greet him.
"Guild Master."
The light dissipated, revealing Richard's figure.
Richard exchanged greetings with Toshio, then turned his gaze to the black tower before him.
This Wizard Tower wasn't very tall, with only six floors including the small room at the top. But Richard, who had seen its design, knew that these six floors were just the surface.
The truly spacious areas of the Wizard Tower were underground.
In addition to the main tower, Toshio had also built three smaller auxiliary towers.
According to Richard's instructions, these auxiliary towers currently had no Alchemy Devices installed, so they were just empty shells for now.
But if he followed the design, these auxiliary towers would be equipped with a large number of Alchemy Weapons and shield generators.
For Richard at this stage, that would be too foolish.
"Good job, Toshio. You've done well," Richard praised, turning around. But then, his gaze shifted to the periphery of the Wizard Tower.
"But what's with these houses? This doesn't look like the scale of a small city meant to accommodate twenty to thirty thousand people."
According to Toshio's plan, there should be a small city around the Wizard Tower, capable of housing twenty to thirty thousand people, as a pilot for establishing a mortal kingdom in the future.
But from Richard's observation, this city could easily accommodate at least a hundred thousand people.
This was more than double the previously agreed amount.
"Uh..." Toshio chuckled awkwardly, "Do you remember when I mentioned to you before that I had ordered an extra batch of materials?
You told me to handle it myself, and I thought since you were planning to expand the city anyway, I went ahead and built some extra houses."
Richard stroked his chin. Toshio had indeed mentioned this to him before. But at the time, he was busy with experiments and didn't pay much attention to something worth a hundred or so Magic Essence.
"Alright, that works out fine," Richard decided, "Let's head inside first."
The group entered the Wizard Tower, where the first floor remained the reception hall.
Reliefs, tapestries, oil paintings... The reception hall didn't quite match the image of a Wizard's abode, instead resembling a nobleman's room from the mortal world.
However, this was purely Richard's own doing. During the renovation, he had left all the decisions entirely up to Toshio's discretion.
The ground floor wasn't particularly noteworthy, as most Wizard Towers followed a similar design.
Richard quickly glanced over the other floors via the staircase before arriving at the entrance to the basement.
The underground section was where the real show began.
In mortal folk tales and novels, particularly those featuring mad Wizards as templates, there was always a dungeon beneath the tower housing numerous terrifying creatures.
In reality, very few Wizards actually built dungeons. What they constructed was more appropriately described as a basement.
The underground space of Richard's Wizard Tower was exceptionally vast, nearly the size of a standard football field.
In the central part of the basement, there was a column-like partition where the Power Furnace would be installed.
Currently, it was being used as a storage room.
Excluding the equipment level, there were three full floors of usable space.
Richard walked around the basement and nodded in satisfaction.
"Good work, you've put in a lot of effort. I'll take care of the Power Furnace situation."
Toshio bowed slightly, "Yes, Guild Master."
After completing the construction of the Wizard Tower, Toshio left the Far North with his construction team, completely unconcerned about any potential issues with what he had built.
This was not only due to his confidence in the quality of his work but also because Richard was an Alchemist Wizard.
In fact, apart from the planning, constructing this Wizard Tower and the entire city wasn't much of a challenge for Richard.
However, Richard's construction process would have been extremely slow and prone to rework.
After moving into the Wizard Tower, Richard opened the Secret Realm and had the Fire Lizard move his experimental equipment out from it.
Shortly after reopening the Secret Realm, Richard had brought the Fire Lizard back from the Crimson Sun World.
With the laboratory set up, Richard looked at the brand-new facility and couldn't help but smile.
He took out a Communication Crystal Ball from his pocket and sent a message to Ellie about the completion of the Wizard Tower.
Ellie replied quickly.
"I'll be there soon. Prepare your laboratory. It seems there's something wrong with my body."
Seeing Ellie's message, Richard frowned.
"Problem?"
...
A month later, Ellie arrived at the Wizard Tower.
In the laboratory, Richard looked at Ellie, who was burning up all over, and rubbed his temples in frustration.
"What exactly have you done?"
Ellie's condition was quite strange. Her body temperature had soared to over 40 degrees Celsius, and her cells were extremely active. Faint patterns were also emerging beneath her skin.
"I have no idea," Ellie said, feeling somewhat wronged. "I've been researching the same things as before over the past two years. Who knows how this happened?"
Richard took out several probes and inserted them into Ellie's body. Soon, her physical data was transmitted to the Crystal Ball.
Richard carefully reviewed the information, and the more he looked, the more peculiar his expression became.
Noticing Richard's expression, Ellie asked nervously, "What's wrong with my body?"
Richard's face was odd as he replied, "Ellie, your physical condition... it seems like you're in heat."
"Heat!!!"
Ellie looked utterly incredulous, and a blush quickly spread across her face.
She shouted in embarrassment, "Take a closer look! I've never had this happen before!"
Richard checked several more times, confirming that his conclusion was correct. The estrogen levels in Ellie's body were indeed at a peak, very similar to an animal in heat.
"The conclusion is correct," Richard said with a strange expression. "Don't you feel anything yourself?"
Ellie glared at Richard, gritting her teeth as she said, "What am I supposed to feel? What do you expect me to feel?"
For Wizards, physical desires had minimal impact on them.
Some soul Wizards could even abstract their thoughts, observing these sensations from a third-person perspective.
In such cases, even pain could be experienced as a form of enjoyment, a novel sensation.
"Don't be angry, don't be angry," Richard laughed. "This is probably caused by the bloodline you fused with. It didn't manifest before because your strength wasn't sufficient, or perhaps certain conditions weren't met. Since it doesn't affect your thinking, just let it be. It will pass after a while..."
Suddenly, a Spatial Rift opened beside Richard, and Ulysses flew out.
"Richard, those Fire Lizards want to... Abyssal Scum!"
Ulysses screamed as he looked at Ellie, and a powerful aura erupted from his body.
Under this aura, even Richard couldn't help but shiver, let alone Ellie, who was the primary target.
"Ulysses!"
Richard's low voice snapped Ulysses out of his reactive state.
Ulysses quickly retracted his aura and apologized to Ellie, "Gah, sorry, sorry. I overreacted."
He then flew to Richard's shoulder and communicated with him through a mental message, "What on earth has this woman done? Why do I sense the aura of Abyssal Scum on her? Has the Abyss invaded?"
As the World Master of the divine civilization, he had an extremely keen perception of the Abyss.
"Wait a moment, I'll collect a sample."
Richard approached Ellie, who had now cooled down and was in a state of suspended animation.
He patted Ellie's face, waking her from her suspended state.
As soon as she opened her eyes, Ellie clutched her chest, gasping for breath, "Richard, your pet is terrifying! Is this what a Level 3 creature is like?"
Richard didn't explain. Instead, he took out a syringe and drew a tube of blood from Ellie.
However, upon coming into contact with the blood, Ulysses became utterly bewildered.
"This... this doesn't smell like those Abyssal Scum."
"Exactly," Richard said calmly. "The bloodline Ellie has fused with is a hybrid of a dragon and another unknown creature from another world. And that creature, I presume, is the Abyssal Demon you mentioned."
"That's definitely something those Abyssal Scum would do," Ulysses mused. "Those Abyssal Scum, aside from fighting and eating, spend the rest of their time mating. Their tastes are quite eclectic—I've even seen an Abyssal Hybrid Stone Giant. A dragon's appearance would probably be considered beautiful among them."
As a biological weapon left behind by the pioneers, the aesthetic appeal of a dragon could be felt by any creature that evolved through physical enhancement.
"A dragon..."
Richard suddenly fell into thought, then approached Ellie and used his spiritual energy to examine her body. Afterward, a strange expression appeared on his face.
"So that's it, Ellie. This isn't you being in heat—it's the False Pregnancy of a dragon."
(End of Chapter)