Wizard Lord:I can Extract Anything

The Spider Knights were not mentioned in the command's intelligence reports, making this new information valuable. Reporting this discovery could earn a reward from the command, but the reward would only go to the first wizard to report it.

Thus, the three needed to decide who would quickly report back.

"I'll go," Ellie said, stepping up and placing a Spider Knight's body into her magic pouch. "I have a bidirectional communication crystal ball with my mentor. Although its range is limited, it's faster than flying to the Floating City."

Richard and Lawrence exchanged a glance, silently reaching an agreement.

"Fine, how should we split the reward?" Lawrence asked. As a freelance wizard, he was quite concerned about profits.

Richard proposed, "How about we split it evenly?"

Lawrence paused, then nodded. "Agreed."

With Lawrence agreeing to the distribution plan, Ellie wasted no time and headed off to the Floating City with the Spider Knight corpse.

Once Ellie left, Lawrence didn't plan to stay idle. "I'll scout further down and return in about six hours," he said in a low voice. "I'll leave a magical mark. If I don't return, it means there's trouble down that path."

Richard nodded. They were just a temporary team; Lawrence's activities weren't his concern.

If Lawrence encountered danger, Richard wasn't obligated to rescue him. However, if Lawrence found treasure, Richard wouldn't have a claim to it.

...

Lawrence took two of the Spider Knight corpses and left. After his departure, Richard explored the settlement.

Besides the warehouses, the settlement lacked other buildings. Initially, Richard thought these insects were sleeping outside, but a mental scan revealed that the Black Crystal Insectoids resided inside the giant fungi.

Thanks to the fungi's properties, even when hollowed out, they remained alive, sustained by the outer layer's connected mycelium.

After scouring the settlement, Richard found a few bundles of edible fungi inside the fungal houses. These fungi were rich in nutrients, slightly toxic to humans but harmless to the Black Crystal Insectoids.

Having looted the settlement, Richard found a spot to open a dimensional rift and brought out his alchemical golem. The task involved exploring the underground lairs, which often had tight spaces barely allowing human passage, let alone a large golem.

However, the cavern housing the settlement was spacious enough for the golem to move, so Richard deployed it as a sentry. One could never be certain if the insects might stage a counterattack. Having the golem as a lookout would provide early warning, allowing Richard to respond accordingly.

After setting up the golem, Richard opened the bag at his waist and released Ulysses.

Having been confined to the bag due to the proximity of a Grand Wizard in the Floating City, both Richard and Ulysses had been cautious about being detected.

"Caw! Finally out of that wretched place," Ulysses exclaimed, flying out of the bag, circling in the air before landing on Richard's shoulder.

"Caw, where are we? Looks like an underground place."

"Exactly, it's underground. Go scout the tunnels," Richard pointed to a cave entrance. "Be careful not to damage yourself."

Although Ulysses was a world lord in essence, his body was that of a first-tier creature. An encounter with a second-tier insect could spell trouble.

"Caw, don't worry," Ulysses called back, flying toward the cave entrance, but stopping midway.

"Caw! You're sending me on another trivial task!"

Richard waved him off, pointing to the insect corpses beside him. "I've saved one for you to taste. Now hurry up."

...

Richard dragged a Spider Knight corpse into a fungal house. As Jolord's student, he had some knowledge of beast synthesis, and the Spider Knights' structure intrigued him. It seemed like two creatures forcibly merged.

Laying the Spider Knight's body on the ground, Richard retrieved a runic scalpel from his magic pouch. He had found this scalpel in a wizard's laboratory. Despite the passage of time, its enchanted runes still glowed. After acquiring it, Richard extracted its craftsmanship and enhanced it with modern alchemical techniques.

Wizards' secrecy about their knowledge often made their civilization's progress appear slow. However, over the years, the average technological level during the expansion period far surpassed that of the late Enlightenment period.

If the Truth Wizards could establish an institution like the Academy's Great Library, consolidating all sub-fourth-circle knowledge for public access, the entire wizard civilization would experience a qualitative leap.

Of course, Richard merely indulged in such thoughts. Without external pressure, even the Truth Wizards couldn't compel wizards to share their research.

The modified scalpel was exceptionally sharp, allowing Richard to easily cut through the Spider Knight's carapace and muscles. While the ease was partly due to the Spider Knight's death and subsequent energy dissipation leading to cellular death, the scalpel's sharpness played a significant role.

Opening the carapace, the Spider Knight's internal structure lay exposed before Richard.

Muscles, blood vessels, bones, nerves... Richard meticulously dissected the corpse, revealing every aspect of the Spider Knight's anatomy.

As he suspected, the Spider Knights were indeed two creatures stitched together. The upper half was a Black Crystal Insectoid, while the lower half was a spider, possessing its own digestive system, energy cycle, and thinking organ. However, the spider's thinking organ was encroached upon by the insect's nerves, reducing it to a command relay station.

Commands from the insect's thinking organ traveled through nerves to the Spider Knight's thinking organ, which then relayed them to the spider's lower body.

The modification was ingenious, with precise nerve connections and energy cycle integration, allowing the Spider Knights to utilize corrosive energy. Compared to this, Richard's biological modification techniques learned from Jolord seemed crude and simplistic.

"No wonder planar wars are so dangerous, yet so many wizards are drawn to them," Richard mused, examining the Spider Knight's body. "The infinite astral world holds endless knowledge. Even a micro-world with a civilization far below the wizard world's level offers such intricate insights."

The Spider Knights' body modifications provided Richard with significant inspiration, elevating his biological modification skills substantially. He recorded the Spider Knight's anatomical structure with a crystal ball for future study or to exchange knowledge with other wizards.

Suddenly, the alchemical golem's alarm sounded outside.

"Alert, alert, unknown first-tier creatures detected!"

The golem's stone body lit up with runes, broadcasting the alarm loudly. Two Spider Knights, clad in metal armor, emerged from a tunnel into the cavern.

"We've been discovered. Attack!"

The Spider Knights exchanged a glance and charged at the source of the alarm—the alchemical golem.

Boom!

The golem's hands glowed with runes, delivering a fiery punch that sent one Spider Knight sliding several meters back, its spider legs gouging deep trenches in the ground, the metal armor scorched red, emitting a burnt odor.

As the golem struck, the other Spider Knight seized the moment to close in, its four blade arms enveloped in corrosive energy as it slashed at the golem.

With a crisp sound, a diamond-shaped dent appeared on the golem's side, revealing the power stone within.

"Stone?" The Spider Knight hesitated. It had heard that the surface monsters had special abilities, but surely they were flesh-and-blood beings, or at least elemental entities.

What was this stone? A golem?

But before the Spider Knight could make sense of it, a voice commanded from behind the golem.

"Retreat."

Obeying the command, the golem stepped back with heavy thuds. The Spider Knight saw a black-robed, flesh-and-blood creature step out of a fungal house, holding a black metal staff.

"So it's a puppet."

The Spider Knight sneered, emitting a burst of sound from its mouthparts.

"Kill it!"

Richard watched the two Spider Knights with an impassive expression. To him, they appeared almost transparent. Having dissected a Spider Knight, Richard was intimately familiar with their anatomy.

The two insects charged at Richard from either side, their blade arms trailing corrosive energy leaving black streaks in the air.

"Heh."

Richard smirked, conjuring two Hearts of Annihilation that forced the Spider Knights to dodge.

These native creatures had a primal intuition, acutely sensing danger. Though the Hearts of Annihilation appeared unremarkable, they couldn't deceive them.

However, Richard didn't intend to use the Hearts of Annihilation to finish them off.

The diversion disrupted the Spider Knights' coordination, creating an opening. Seizing the moment, Richard stepped forward, instantly closing in on one Spider Knight.

"As modified creatures, your weaknesses are more fatal than other beings."

Richard grinned wickedly, his muscles bulging as he drove his flame-imbued staff into the Spider Knight's waist. With a "crack," the carapace shattered, the staff piercing deep into its body, sizzling as it burned.

"If your central nervous connection is damaged, your lower body becomes paralyzed. Plus, your energy cycle is disrupted, weakening your muscles."

Richard calmly withdrew his staff and turned to the remaining Spider Knight.

The Spider Knight didn't understand Richard's words but was terrified by its companion's sudden incapacitation.

What did this monster do?

Yet, the situation left no time for contemplation. Channeling energy into its four arms, the Spider Knight's corrosive energy nearly solidified.

"Die!"

The Spider Knight screeched, its arms locking Richard in a deadly embrace.

But the next moment, Richard vanished.

Crack.

"You foolish creature."

Richard's voice came from behind the Spider Knight.

In the underground cavern, shadow stepping proved invaluable.

Richard calmly withdrew his staff and retreated from the Spider Knight's range.

For now, neither Spider Knight could resist.

Richard, in their presence, leisurely prepared a nerve-paralysis toxin.

"Two first-tier creatures, should fetch a decent price."

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