After finishing the meal, Richard bid farewell to Stio and returned to the Wizard Tower.
Back in the Wizard Tower, Richard wasted no time and immediately began crafting the items required for his tasks.
The two tasks he had accepted were carefully considered. The first task involved creating an arm, which, although the conditions were somewhat stringent, aligned perfectly with Richard's ongoing experiments.
Richard needed to continuously produce Enhanced Cells, and in the process, he could use these enhanced cells to craft the arm.
As for the second task involving algae, Richard decided to entrust it to the World Mushroom.
The World Mushroom had its own unique expertise in cultivating life forms. Entrusting it with the task of growing algae under special conditions was undoubtedly the right choice.
...
In the Secret Realm, after listening to Richard's explanation, the World Mushroom readily agreed.
"No problem, Master. This kind of life form can be easily cultivated."
"Oh? That impressive?" Richard looked at the World Mushroom with some surprise. "This time, it's not fungi."
"No problem, Master," the World Mushroom replied. "I cultivate mushrooms because I like them, not because I can only cultivate mushrooms.
As a World Tree, I am naturally adept at modifying life forms. Haven't I already transformed your Holy Tree Sprites?"
Upon hearing this, Richard suddenly realized that, indeed, converting them into his followers was a form of modification.
"Then I'll leave it to you. Notify me immediately once it's cultivated."
"Yes, Master."
After assigning the tasks, Richard was about to leave.
But he suddenly stopped and walked to the other side of the World Mushroom.
On the other side was the location of Richard's Holy City. Usually, Ulysses would be lying in the bird's nest of the Holy City, leisurely basking in the sun.
But today, Ulysses was not there. The Sacred Nest was empty, with only two Holy Tree Sprites cleaning with mycelium.
"Where is Ulysses?" Richard asked the Holy Tree Sprites.
Seeing Richard's inquiry, the Holy Tree Sprites immediately landed on the ground and respectfully replied, "Great Creator, the Raven God has gone to spread your faith."
"Spread faith?" Richard was slightly startled.
He was currently in the Wizard World. Where in the Wizard World could he spread faith, unless...
In the northernmost city, a group of Snowfield People gathered in the square, braving the cold wind.
At the forefront, a black raven radiating a holy light was calmly preaching.
"...Everything you have is a gift from the gods. The great Wizard Richard is the incarnation of the god, the child of the god... One day, the earth will crack, the oceans will wither, and the child of the god will return to the divine realm.
At that time, he will bring the souls of all the faithful to a land of abundant water and grass, where they will enjoy eternal bliss.
And the souls of the unbelievers will fall into an eternal cycle of reincarnation, utterly annihilating themselves."
The black raven was not large, but its voice was clearly heard by every Snowfield Person.
Under the persuasion of Ulysses, a professional god-peddler from the civilization of gods, the crude mythological system of the Snowfield People was easily dismantled.
And in its place naturally rose Richard's church—the Miracle Order.
After the sermon ended, the Snowfield People in the square bowed to the black raven and then began to receive the Holy Meal—a mushroom pie and a bowl of mushroom soup.
Suddenly, a streak of light descended upon the square, and the Snowfield People, upon seeing it, immediately bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
It was none other than the great Wizard who had taken them in, the Holy Son of the Miracle Order—Wizard Richard.
Richard paid no attention to the Snowfield People. He glanced at Ulysses, who immediately understood his intention.
Ulysses gave a few instructions to some Snowfield People cultivators and then followed Richard away from the square.
Upon returning to the Wizard Tower, Richard, with a stern face, scolded Ulysses, "How could you preach in the Wizard World? Is this a place for preaching?"
But Ulysses retorted firmly, "Why isn't it? You Wizards are completely indifferent to these mortals. Do you know what a treasure trove this is?"
"Treasure trove?" Richard was almost amused by anger. "Don't you know that behind every religion in the Wizard World stands the Guardians of the Wizarding World?
It's only because the Far North City is in the Far North, with a sparse population and within the territory of Grand Wizard Galon, that the Guardians of the Wizarding World haven't bothered to come.
If this were anywhere else, the Guardians of the Wizarding World would already be onto you!"
Hearing this, the previously aggressive Ulysses was stunned.
"Are you serious?" Ulysses' confidence was no longer as strong as before.
Richard glared at him fiercely, "Nonsense! Why would I lie to you? Do you think I don't know that the vast number of mortals in the Wizard World holds immense wealth? I've already inquired! These churches are all baits used by the Guardians of the Wizarding World to lure otherworldly creatures."
Richard's explanation left Ulysses speechless; he had no idea about these inside stories.
He thought Richard's reluctance to preach in the Wizard World was purely due to the Wizards' disdainful bias against deities.
"Alright, that's my mistake. I should have told you about this beforehand," Ulysses apologized.
After saying that, he sighed again, "Sigh, it seems I'll have to teach some youngsters to go out and preach."
Hearing this, Richard's eyes widened.
"You're still going to preach?"
Ulysses looked at Richard with some surprise, "Of course, your Wizard World's laws don't prohibit Wizards from establishing religions, do they?"
Richard thought for a moment, "...Indeed, they don't."
"Then it's settled," Ulysses said triumphantly. "Those youngsters are your people, not mine.
Even if the Guardians of the Wizarding World come asking, you have nothing to fear.
After all, you've only established a religion, not used these mortals as test subjects, completely not violating your laws."
Listening to Ulysses' description, Richard was momentarily stunned.
Indeed, these operations did not violate the laws of the Wizard World at all.
After thinking for a while, Richard slowly said, "What you're saying sounds fine, but I think we still need to be cautious. I'll go ask the law enforcement Wizards in a while to see if this operation is really permissible.
During this time, don't go out to preach anymore."
The Council of Truth is very strict about the protection of mortals, and such borderline behavior is hard to say whether it's a violation or not.
"Alright," Ulysses said somewhat helplessly, "You're the boss, if you say stop, then stop."
...
As Richard had anticipated, Wizards establishing religions was indeed a borderline behavior.
In the Wizard World, it wasn't that no Wizard had noticed the miraculous Power of Faith. As early as the Enlightenment Period, there were Wizards who attempted to establish religions to gather the Power of Faith.
After entering the Expansion Period, the Council of Truth implemented strict protections for mortals. While the act of founding a religion wasn't explicitly prohibited, there were numerous regulations within the internal guidelines of the law-enforcing Wizards.
To establish a religion, Richard signed a Soul Contract with the law-enforcing Wizards, ensuring he wouldn't engage in the actions of a mad Wizard.
Moreover, a law-enforcing Wizard had to be stationed within the church as a supervisor.
However, this wasn't a problem for Richard.
He truly was only collecting the Power of Faith.
After registering with the law-enforcing Wizards, the issue of the religion in the northernmost city was resolved, and Richard turned his attention to the task items.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, fifty years had passed.
In the laboratory, Richard opened the cultivation chamber and retrieved a human arm from the nutrient solution.
Over these fifty years, Richard had successfully cultivated three generations of Enhanced Cells using blue light irradiation. Thanks to these cells, Richard's physical constitution smoothly reached 225 points, and he also completed the production of the task items.
The human arm Richard had just retrieved was one of the finished products.
Using flesh manipulation, Richard severed his right arm and then attached the newly cultivated arm.
This arm was made with the third generation of Enhanced Cells, which Richard's body hadn't yet replaced, so he wasn't sure if this arm met the standards.
As the blood vessels and nerves successfully connected, the right arm made from the third generation of Enhanced Cells began to revive.
Richard left the laboratory and headed to the third underground level.
This level was temporarily Ellie's training room, which housed the Gravity Training Room Richard had once built.
He approached a target, specially made by Richard to test the arm, which had extremely strong defensive capabilities against physical attacks.
Looking at the target, Richard inhaled, retracted his arm, and then suddenly threw a punch.
Boom! The sound of the metal target resonated like a bell, echoing in the training room for a long time.
Richard glanced at the display connected to the target, which showed that his punch had reached twelve hundred energy levels.
"Not bad," he exhaled.
Next, Richard channeled Magic Power into his right arm. With the infusion of a massive amount of energy, the right arm even emitted a faint blue light.
Bang! Another punch.
The metal target erupted with a roar again, and its sturdy metal shell was even dented by the punch.
Looking at the display, the data for this punch had reached an astonishing thirty-three hundred energy levels.
"Good," Richard said, smiling with satisfaction at the numbers on the display.
Then, Richard tested the maximum output. This time, the metal target was directly punched into a large crater, and the data on the display even approached six thousand.
However, the cost was that the entire arm was almost completely destroyed.
But this result already met the requirements, as the maximum output was meant for emergencies.
After repairing the arm, Richard immediately headed to the Garon Wizard Academy.
In the academy's testing area, Richard found the task issuer.
It was a One-Armed Wizard, whose body was as robust as a black bear. This Wizard was also at the Third Circle. Upon seeing Richard arrive, he immediately welcomed him in with joy.
"Master, here is the arm you requested."
Richard took out a box containing an arm from his Magic Pocket.
The One-Armed Wizard took the box, removed the arm, and examined it carefully.
"Master, I assume you are researching cellular enhancement, correct?"
Richard was momentarily stunned, then nodded slightly: "Indeed, Master, your insight is sharp."
The One-Armed Wizard smiled at Richard: "I thought so. After all, the cells in this arm are incredibly robust, but the muscle structure is quite ordinary.
If you could optimize the muscle structure, the strength of this arm would far exceed the data you've tested."
What the Wizard referred to as "constitution" essentially meant the robustness of the cells, or the vitality. Strength, agility, and recovery abilities, though they improve with enhanced constitution, are essentially byproducts.
Without further research, Wizards with the same constitution.
Those who follow the path of physical evolution would have far greater strength, agility, and recovery abilities than those who follow the path of mental evolution.
Richard smiled wryly: "There's nothing I can do. My abilities are limited."
"Haha."
The One-Armed Wizard laughed, then took out a pouch from his pocket and handed it to Richard.
"Here's a suggestion, Master. If you want to study muscle structure, you can exchange for a copy of the Myriad Transformation Battle Body at the Contribution Store.
The potential of this knowledge is immense. Even the Dean still uses it to this day."
Richard's expression turned serious. He took the pouch and bowed slightly: "Thank you for the guidance."
With the pouch in hand, Richard immediately went to the Contribution Store. Inside the pouch given by the One-Armed Wizard were coins representing contribution points.
After purchasing a ten-year opportunity to enter the Mountainous Secret Realm, the witch who looked like Nezha from 100,000 Cold Jokes opened a Mystic Realm Rift in front of Richard.
The witch smiled at Richard and said, "Master, please enter. I will call you out in ten years."
(End of Chapter)