The development of a city takes time. After stabilizing the city, research, which should have been the top priority, naturally became Richard's daily routine.
Richard had lost count of how many times he had flipped through the "Path of Evolution" that Jimmy had given him.
But every time he read it, he discovered something he had previously overlooked.
This "Path of Evolution" contained almost all of Grand Wizard Galon's understanding of physical evolution over several epochs.
Conclusions that would have taken countless years and resources to reach were often summarized in just a few sentences in the "Path of Evolution."
Grand Wizard Galon had almost single-handedly paved a nearly complete path of evolution. Richard was almost certain that if Grand Wizard Galon had achieved the status of a Truth Wizard, the current five major schools would have immediately become six.
But unfortunately, while there is a fixed path to becoming a Great Wizard in the Wizard World, the path to becoming a Truth Wizard is known to very few.
At the end of the Wizard War, the leaders of the five major schools almost simultaneously achieved the status of Truth Wizards. The mystery behind this remains unknown to this day.
With the help of the "Path of Evolution," Richard quickly determined his research direction—cell enhancement.
The Aberration Rule allowed Richard to rapidly mutate various cells. Through targeted screening methods, he could always isolate the cells he desired.
...
On the experimental table, a faint blue light emitted from a crystal, precisely covering an indescribable piece of flesh.
Behind the blue light was a hemispherical crystal dome. Inside the dome, a black-blue flame burned fiercely.
Richard stood by the experimental table, quietly observing the flesh covered by the blue light.
Under the blue light, the flesh, which looked as if it had been cut from some ancient eldritch being, began to disintegrate, eventually turning into a pool of thick liquid.
"Sigh!"
Richard stepped forward and turned off the blue light. He then summoned a flame, reducing the liquid on the experimental table to ashes.
"Failed again?"
A voice came from behind Richard. He sighed and replied in a low tone, "Yes, failed again."
He turned around to see Ellie leaning against another experimental table, holding a Magic Book and lazily watching him.
"Over thirty years, since I arrived, you've been failing. Not a single result in all these years," Ellie said, shaking her head as she walked toward Richard.
When she reached him, she suddenly suggested, "Why don't you put this experiment on hold for now and focus on something else?
You seemed quite interested in the bloodline I fused with, didn't you?"
Richard leaned against the experimental table, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
Thirty years of failure forced Richard to question whether there was something fundamentally wrong with his experiment.
He had conducted at least over a hundred thousand experiments in these years, but without exception, all of them had failed, with not even a hint of progress.
The rate at which cells disintegrated under the blue light only increased, never decreased.
If even a single cell had shown any sign of slowing down the disintegration, Richard wouldn't have been so lost.
A hundred thousand experiments—even the most ruthless gacha pool in a mobile game would have yielded something by now.
Unless there was nothing in the pool to begin with.
Richard shook his head, trying to dispel the chaotic thoughts in his mind.
"You're right, I really need to rethink this."
Leaving the laboratory, Richard stood on the balcony of the Wizard Tower, letting the cold wind blow over him.
His mind kept pondering over the experiments of these years and that book, "The Path of Evolution."
"The Path of Evolution" was Grand Wizard Galon's crystallization of knowledge on physical evolution. For a Wizard like him, who had just transitioned from a layman to the study of physical evolution, this book almost provided answers to all his questions.
But after much thought, "The Path of Evolution" didn't bring Richard any inspiration.
Richard felt somewhat agitated, a common state for all Wizards when their experiments hit a snag, especially when they believed they were on the right path.
The biting cold wind didn't calm Richard down; instead, the more he thought on the balcony, the more frustrated he became.
He couldn't figure out what he was missing.
Suddenly, Richard flew away from the Wizard Tower, transforming into a streak of light heading towards the distance.
He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he needed to calm down now.
And this flight lasted for two months.
Two months later, Richard stopped in his tracks as he looked at the towering ice wall before him—he had reached the end of the world.
But this wasn't enough to satisfy Richard. Looking at the ice wall, he suddenly wanted to see what lay beyond it.
So he waved his staff, and powerful fireballs, like machine gun fire, smashed into the ice wall.
But this ice wall wasn't just any ordinary ice wall; it was an external manifestation of the rules of the Wizard World, representing the end of the Wizard World.
No matter how far Richard advanced into the ice wall, he was always met with an endless expanse of ice.
Finally, his Magic Power was exhausted, and he collapsed weakly to the ground.
Richard didn't attempt to recover his Magic Power; he stared blankly at the ice wall, his mind empty.
But even if he didn't recover, his parched body wouldn't allow him to mess around.
Richard's body cells began to involuntarily absorb energy from the space to maintain the body's operation.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Richard.
He stood up abruptly, looking at his arm with some surprise.
"What a fool I've been!"
He finally discovered the crux of the problem. Over the years, he had been using the Aberration Rule to mutate cells and then screening them with blue light.
The essence of what he was doing was to find a way to strengthen cells more quickly.
Because for the past few hundred years, inside the World Mushroom, he had been conducting blue light irradiation experiments, but those experiments had yielded nothing.
But the complexity of the Core of Life far exceeded his imagination; his ten thousand experiments had only revealed a fraction of the possibilities of the Core of Life.
So the idea of directly mutating cells with the Aberration Rule was also wrong.
He shouldn't use the Aberration Rule to directly mutate cells but should use the Aberration Rule to assist cell mutation.
In times of crisis, life finds its own way! And all he needed to do was to assist the cells, helping them find their way more quickly.
Richard took out two pieces of Magic Essence and swiftly rebuilt the Mana Recirculation.
After the reconstruction, he hurried back to the Wizard Tower and plunged into the laboratory.
A shift in thinking is crucial for an experiment; often, Wizards believe they are on the right path.
No mistake, no content, all in 69 book bar look!
If they couldn't realize they were on the wrong path, success would always remain out of reach.
After shifting his approach, Richard redesigned the experiment. Instead of directly mutating cells with the Aberration Rule, he used it to destabilize the Core of Life, making it more prone to mutation.
Next was the issue of energy supply. Richard modified the experimental platform to allow Magic Power to permeate the flesh more efficiently, thereby providing energy for evolution.
These modifications were simple, but the effects they brought were drastically different.
Under the blue light, the cells continued to disintegrate.
But Richard could see that these cells were constantly seeking ways to resist the blue light.
"No, this is still too slow!"
Watching the cells collapse under the blue light, another flash of inspiration struck Richard.
The cells he used in his experiments were from Level 1 lifeforms. According to the records of the Path of Evolution, the higher the level of a lifeform, the more stable its Core of Life would be.
And this was not a good thing for inducing cell mutations.
So for years, Richard had been using cells from Level 1 lifeforms in his experiments.
But he suddenly realized that the records of the Path of Evolution were meant for ordinary Wizards.
He possessed the Aberration Rule and didn't have to adhere to this.
Moreover, cells from higher-level lifeforms would resist external environments for a longer time. Combined with the Aberration Rule, these cells would actually be more prone to evolution in Richard's hands.
Understanding this, Richard immediately cut a large piece of flesh from his own body and restarted the experiment.
Time flew by, and a week passed in the blink of an eye.
"Three hundred and seventy-second experiment, material mass: 2,500 grams, irradiation intensity: Level 1, energy supply: Level 3, no drug assistance."
At the experimental platform, Richard calmly yet manically recorded the experiment, quietly observing the piece of flesh under the blue light.
The cells continued to collapse, but Richard remained unfazed.
He was certain he was on the right path.
Suddenly, a cell caught his attention.
As a Third Circle Wizard, Richard's mental perception was no worse than some optical microscopes.
He could clearly "see" every cell on the surface of the flesh.
He quickly stopped the irradiation and carefully used Magic Power to excise that cell along with the surrounding flesh from the main body.
Just moments ago, this cell had resisted the blue light.
Richard integrated this piece of flesh into his body, his face filled with barely contained ecstasy.
He had finally found it!
Three years later, this cell had proliferated enough within Richard's body.
And Richard confirmed Ulysses' earlier speculation: cells that could resist the blue light were indeed stronger.
He then began to stem-cellize these cells and gradually replaced the old cells in his body with them.
Another ten years passed, and Richard completed the cell replacement.
[Spiritual Power: 217.5, Physique: 213, Magic Power: 87,000, Rating: Third Circle Wizard]
Looking at these numbers, Richard gasped, his face filled with uncontrollable joy.
For centuries, he had focused solely on research, so his Physique had only increased by three points under the influence of the Physique Enhancement Gland.
But this cell replacement alone had boosted Richard's Physique by a full 10 points.
And the time he spent, including the initial failures, was only a little over fifty years!
What's more important is that he found the right path!
This physical enhancement isn't just a one-time thing! "I won't have to worry about my physique anymore," Richard murmured to himself as he gazed at the Crystal Ball. "Next, I need to improve my combat skills."
Speaking of combat skills, Richard suddenly recalled the Mountainous Secret Realm he had entered before.
If he remembered correctly, he could use his contribution points to exchange for another chance to enter the Secret Realm.
"It seems I need to check the mission board."
(End of Chapter)