As Richard immersed himself in the wondrous sensations brought by devouring the rules, his body underwent drastic changes under the influence of the pool of blood.
While the soul of the Fiend Bruno had not yet dissipated, this pool of blood, guided by the rules, continuously devoured Richard's energy like a cancer, replacing his original flesh with proliferating flesh.
However, as the soul of Fiend Bruno was incinerated into nothingness by the Miracle Furnace, the rules he had obtained from the Flesh Cancer were also absorbed by Richard.
This situation was instantly reversed.
Richard's flesh, now empowered by the rules, began to frantically absorb the cancerous flesh, which, having lost the support of the rules, was utterly defenseless.
In a short while, the pool of blood, along with the proliferated flesh, was completely devoured by Richard's flesh.
And this was just the beginning.
The entanglement of the rules granted Richard a new ability—cocooning.
Now, Richard possessed a cocooning ability similar to that of insects. After suffering severe injuries, Richard could sustain his life through cocooning. In normal times, Richard could also choose to cocoon actively to achieve the purpose of "metamorphosis."
This "metamorphosis" required a catalyst similar to a medicinal trigger. Once the metamorphosis began, Richard's body would start to evolve.
This evolution was akin to the evolution of the adaptive body but much more intense.
And the pool of blood containing Fiend Bruno was such a "catalyst."
The pool of blood contained all the essence that the Flesh Cancer had seeped out over the years, including a large amount of evolutionary substances.
The Flesh Cancer was not just about the disorderly replication of its body; it also had the ability to mutate cells.
This had a similar effect to evolution.
After devouring the pool of blood containing a large amount of evolutionary substances, Richard's body began to exude white thread-like substances.
This immediately made the Wizard Hunting team beside him tense up.
"Damn it!" Kava shouted irritably, turning to look at the equally bewildered dwarf, gritting his teeth, "Listen, you purple-skinned dwarves, if anything happens to the master, I will definitely—"
Bang! An iron fist interrupted Kava's impending threat.
Makar retracted his fist and bowed slightly to the High Priest, "I apologize, my companion is a bit too agitated."
The High Priest waved his hand, indicating it was of no concern.
"I understand your feelings; the current situation is indeed somewhat bizarre.
If you trust me, I will communicate with the Dwarf King and have him take a look at Master Richard's condition."
"Then we trouble you, Master."
The High Priest held the golden staff, murmuring incantations. The previous battle had consumed a lot of Power of Faith, and the Dwarf King had already entered a dormant state. But to get a clear view of Richard's condition, the Dwarf King had to be awakened from his sleep.
Whether out of gratitude to Richard for his kindness to the dwarves or the four angry Fire Lizards before him, he had to do this.
Soon, a glimmer of light flashed in the High Priest's eyes.
He opened his eyes wide and scrutinized Richard carefully. The Fire Lizards standing beside Richard immediately felt as if they were being examined from the inside out.
After a moment, the glimmer of light disappeared, and the High Priest slowly spoke:
"Everyone, Master Richard is fine. On the contrary, Master Richard is undergoing a metamorphosis, which is extremely beneficial to him.
You just need to wait here."
Makar was stunned for a moment, then bowed his head in response:
"Thank you, Master."
The white threads on Richard's body grew longer and longer, eventually wrapping his body tightly into an oval shape.
Then, these threads began to expand outward, spreading like a carpet on the ground.
These threads did not have any parasitic characteristics; their sole purpose was to absorb as much energy as possible from the air.
Streams of Magic Power were transmitted through these threads to Richard's main body.
The Wizard Hunting team avoided these threads, and the dwarves also chose not to leave.
They stood by, quietly waiting for the metamorphosis to end.
The threads grew longer and longer, eventually covering an area the size of a football field. They continuously absorbed energy from the air, even causing a series of Magic Breezes in the canyon.
Everyone could feel that Richard's body was undergoing a tremendous transformation.
One day, two days, three days... Time passed like flowing water.
In the blink of an eye, it was the twentieth year of Richard's metamorphosis.
During these years, the Wizard Hunting team and the dwarves had not left the Bottom of the Mountains.
For them, although the environment at the Bottom of the Mountains was somewhat harsh, it was not unlivable. The dwarves were all determined individuals, and waiting in one place for twenty years to ascertain the condition of their benefactor was nothing to them.
In front of the white cocoon formed by Richard, the High Priest sat cross-legged in the air.
Suddenly, the High Priest opened his eyes.
At the same time, Makar arrived by the High Priest's side.
"Master Richard is about to awaken."
As soon as the High Priest finished speaking, a fair-skinned hand broke through the cocoon shell, and then the cocoon was torn apart. A black-robed Wizard looked around in confusion.
"What are these on my body..."
Richard looked around in confusion. In his memory, after devouring the rules, he had been watching the illusions of the rules for a long time.
Then the illusions disappeared, and he exited the spiritual space.
As soon as he came out, he felt his body was like a volcano, ready to break through to the Third Circle Wizard at any moment.
He spent some time suppressing this impulse to break through, then tore open the cocoon shell blocking his view.
But the scene before him seemed to deviate from his memory.
He flew out of the cocoon and, upon seeing the ground covered with white threads and the cocoon shell behind him, quickly deduced his state.
"Did I cocoon?" Richard frowned slightly and turned to Makar beside him, "How long have I been asleep?"
"Twenty years, three months, and seven days."
"So long!" Richard exclaimed in surprise.
He thought he had only slept for a few months, or maybe a few years. But he didn't expect that this metamorphosis had lasted twenty years.
In the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed, and Richard felt like the world had gone mad.
Richard was silent for a long time, finally accepting this helpless fact.
Although twenty years was a long time, long enough for him to violate the Soul Contract with the academy, his gains were even more astonishing.
Apart from the rules and the abilities he had acquired, his physique had reached 199.9 points during this metamorphosis, reaching the limit of a Second Circle Wizard.
This had saved him at least a thousand years of hard work.
Moreover, he was now in a state where he could break through at any moment.
His life core had become very active during the metamorphosis, and he could take the next step at any time to become a Third Circle Wizard.
A Third Circle Wizard at the age of four hundred was unheard of in the history of the Wizard World.
But Richard chose not to break through.
This was the result of Richard's careful consideration.
Breaking through a bit later was not a big deal. But if he broke through now, there would be a severe mismatch between his mental power and his physique.
Although there was a compensatory effect to fall back on, at least for the next few decades, his combat power would definitely not be guaranteed.
There are two scenarios where mental power and physique do not match. One is when mental power is too strong, and the body is too weak. Wizards in this state must live cautiously because the slightest mistake could trigger a force that the body cannot withstand, leading to bodily damage or even annihilation.
The other scenario is when mental power is too weak, and the body is too strong.
This situation is even worse because it means the Wizard cannot finely control their own body.
This means that Richard might step on the ground and create a large crater, or shake someone's hand and crush their bones.
Even the Magic Power flow would be absorbed by the body's cells, exceeding the energy of the Magic Power flow constructed by the mental power, causing the Magic Power flow to be absorbed by the body.
The greater the gap between mental power and physique, the more intense this reaction would be.
Richard currently only has 123 points of mental power. If he rashly becomes a Third Circle Wizard, it is uncertain how much of a Third Circle Wizard's power he could exert.
Maintaining the peak of the Second Circle is undoubtedly the best option for Richard now.
"Twenty years is twenty years; it was just an unexpected situation."
With a sigh, Richard turned to the High Priest.
"I didn't expect the High Priest to still be waiting here; I am deeply ashamed."
The High Priest waved his hand and smiled, "It's no trouble; it's only been twenty years.
As long as the master is fine, waiting for two hundred years is not a problem.
From the master's current state, it seems that the Fiend has been completely eradicated by the master."
Richard's mind flashed to Fiend Bruno, who had been incinerated into nothingness by the colorless flames of the Miracle Furnace, and he nodded slightly.
"The divination was not wrong; the Fiend was indeed purified by my flames."
The High Priest clasped his hands together and bowed slightly. Behind him, a phantom of a dwarf slowly appeared.
"Thank you, Master."
The High Priest's voice and the phantom's voice overlapped, sounding sacred and solemn.
Richard responded with the same gesture, "No need for that; we each got what we needed, a win-win situation."
With Richard awakening from the cocoon, there was no need for everyone to stay at the Bottom of the Mountains.
Richard burned the white threads he had left behind into ashes, ensuring that not a trace of usable medium remained.
The Wizard Hunting team also removed their armor and entered Richard's Synthetic Beast Pocket.
Then, Richard followed the dwarves back to the surface.
After confirming the death of Fiend Bruno, the dwarves began the operation to exterminate the Aberrant Monsters.
In twenty years, they had almost completely eradicated the Aberrant Monsters, which had become rootless.
Without Fiend Bruno, the external spokesperson of the seal, the Flesh Cancer within the seal had to expend great effort to transform a creature into an Aberrant.
The speed of transformation was far slower than the speed at which the dwarves killed them.
According to the High Priest, he planned to gradually restart the ancient fortresses, and the dwarf race would monitor the Flesh Cancer until it died within the seal.
Regarding this situation, Richard could only sigh.
Of all the races the Flesh Cancer could have corrupted, it had to be these grudge-bearing and stubborn dwarves.
Exiting the mine shaft, Richard bid farewell to the High Priest and prepared to return to the Black Tower Wizard Academy to resolve the issue of the contract.
The contract was gone, but with the relationship between his teacher and Ericus, it could be renewed.
The war was still twenty years away, and if he performed well in these twenty years, he could still receive the rewards after the war.
However, the High Priest stopped Richard and brought several dwarf warriors and female dwarves to Richard's side.
"Master, I would like to ask you to take them out of this world."
Richard furrowed his brows and spoke seriously to the High Priest, "High Priest, you are the property of the Truth Wizards. I cannot encroach upon the property of the Great Truth Wizard."
But the High Priest shook his head.
"Master, we are not the property of the Great Truth Wizard. We are the property of the entire Wizard World."
With that, the High Priest took out a scroll from his bosom. The corners of the scroll were stamped with the mark of the Tower of Truth, and there were five of them.
This indicated that the scroll was jointly issued by five Towers of Truth.
The content of the scroll was simple; it mainly described a plan, a plan called the Wizard World Ecological Restoration Plan.
In this plan, the dwarves and several other intelligent races living in the Wizard World were designated as vassal races of the Wizards.
The vassal races had the right to survive in the Wizard World and were protected by the laws of the Council of Truth.
Apart from regularly paying taxes, including blood tax, and not being allowed to colonize other worlds, these vassal races had the same rights as Wizards.
The High Priest said humbly, "Master, I hope you can take them to the Wizard World to see our homeland.
After that, whether you want them to reproduce in the Wizard World or follow you as your vassals, it is up to you."
(End of Chapter)