Wizard: I Can Refine Everything-Chapter 156 - 56: Life in the Secret Realm

Chapter 156: Chapter 56: Life in the Secret Realm

Under the control of the World Mushroom, this group of insects had completely lost their ability to resist and could only silently watch Richard.

As a Divine Chosen, Inhardt had learned the language of the Wizards, and at the moment, he could understand what Richard was talking about.

“Specimen, Wizard, do you think this will scare me?” Inhardt said fearlessly.

The Mother Worm God’s Divine Chosen were not selected randomly; each Divine Chosen held unwavering faith in Her. If Richard thought he could threaten Inhardt the same way one would threaten an ordinary Warrior Worm, he would be sorely disappointed.

Unfortunately for Inhardt, Richard wasn’t trying to intimidate him.

“Scare you? Why would I scare you?” Richard’s lips curled into a sinister smile as he took out a Rune Scalpel from his pocket.

...

“I am not here to scare you.”

Richard drew his scalpel across Inhardt’s body, its sharpness sending shivers down Inhardt’s spine.

What an incredibly sharp weapon.

“Ulysses, you said as long as I don’t kill this insect, the Mother Worm God won’t turn her gaze this way, right?” Richard asked, turning his head.

“Caw, theoretically, yes, but even if you kill him, she won’t be able to see you through the Secret Realm. At most, she might glance twice at the place where he disappeared,” Ulysses said indifferently.

Richard stroked his chin, “Still, there’s some risk, so let’s not kill him for now.

World Mushroom, can you keep this insect alive during my dissection?”

“No problem, Master. If you’d like to hear its screams, I can make it more sensitive to pain.”

Richard twitched his lips at this suggestion and declined.

“Later, help me anesthetize this insect. I do not want it to move while I’m examining its structure.”

“As you wish.”

The World Mushroom formed a dissection table out of mycelium, and Inhardt was firmly tied down in the center. Anesthetics from the World Mushroom induced a strange state of alertness in Inhardt; he could see what Richard was doing but couldn’t move at all.

The World Mushroom never missed a chance to inflict malice on a Black Crystal Insect.

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Richard took his surgical instruments out of his pocket. Although dissection tools typically bring to mind scalpels, in reality, there are many tools involved, with scalpels being only one of them.

Peeling back the exoskeleton, slicing through the epidermis—under Richard’s skillful hands, Inhardt’s structure was quickly revealed.

During the process, Inhardt hardly bled at all.

Inhardt was fully conscious throughout the ordeal, feeling the chilly edge of the scalpel slide across his flesh, exposing his tender body hidden beneath the shell.

This awkward process was exceedingly tormenting for him.

It was as if he was a toy, with Richard freely manipulating his body, yet unable to stop it.

As Inhardt endured his agony, Richard didn’t think much about it.

He was immersed in a sea of knowledge, so engulfed that he didn’t even realize Inhardt was still conscious.

Before becoming a Divine Chosen, Inhardt was first and foremost a Second Level Priest Insect. The body structure and energy circulation of a Priest Insect, as well as other insects that reach the Second-level Creature status, undergo numerous changes.

These changes were exceptionally intricate yet, in some aspects, quite unfathomable.

This made Richard marvel at the miracle of life, and at the same time, lament that evolution indeed preserved all traits that did not hinder survival.

The entire dissection took a very long time, but with the World Mushroom continuously providing Life Energy and Richard’s exquisite skills, Inhardt remained strong after the dissection, looking like his life potential had even been stimulated.

“Caw, Divine Chosen indeed have good luck,” Ulysses commented from Richard’s shoulder.

“Hmm? What do you mean by that?”

“Caw, among the billions of the Black Crystal Worm Clan, there are also a million Priest Insects. For it to stand out among a million and be chosen by the old insect as Divine Chosen, isn’t that good luck?” Ulysses explained, “Moreover, in our place, Divine Chosen have another name, called the protagonist, a creature blessed with great destiny.”

“Protagonist?” Richard raised an eyebrow, “You believe in such an idealistic concept?”

In most novels, the protagonist is the luckiest one, as if all the good things in the world manage to find them, and they can turn every danger into safety.

But in the eyes of a Wizard, luck does not exist, only probabilities.

To a Wizard, a protagonist is just a special set of probabilities within the infinite possibilities.

“Caw, if the Divine King believes it, how could I not? Besides, this insect survived in your hands and is even doing well, isn’t that a manifestation of its good luck?”

Richard smirked coldly, “That’s because the Mother Worm God is still alive. If she were dead, this insect would already be a specimen soaking in preservative liquid.”

“Caw, but it’s still alive, and there’s still some time before the moment you reference. Many variables could occur, and perhaps by then you won’t want to make it a specimen but instead take it as a subordinate or something else.”

Richard scoffed at Ulysses’s words, dismissing them.

The more they were discussed, the more absurd they became—how could he possibly take such an excellent specimen as a subordinate.

The dissection was complete, and aside from a few stitches, Inhardt didn’t suffer any physical damage.

But the entire process inflicted tremendous mental anguish on him.

Once he could move again, a viscous tear trickled from the corner of Inhardt’s eye, and he chanted the name of the Mother Worm God intermittently, in pain and panic.

This was the only pillar supporting him through the spiritual torture.

“Caw, by the way, Richard, you haven’t asked why these insects were able to find us,” Ulysses suddenly spoke up, “We’ve been bothered by insects along the way and even had this guy blocking our path—there must be a reason.”

Richard nodded at Ulysses’s words and then turned his gaze towards Inhardt.

Indeed, Ulysses made sense; bewildered by the changes in the Secret Realm, he had forgotten this matter.

But now he found himself in a predicament.

This creature clearly had a will of steel, and ordinary physical torture was unlikely to be effective.

However, he was not a Soul Wizard and had no good measures on the soul level.

As he agonized over how to interrogate, Inhardt spoke.

“You’ve taken the High Priest’s Divine Statue, the Power of Faith upon it guided us to you.”

“Hmm!?”

Richard was somewhat surprised; he had not expected the creature to cooperate so easily.

He took out the Divine Statue and scolded Ulysses:

“Ulysses, how can you understand the Power of Faith less than the natives?”

“Ga, how could I forget that the Power of Faith could track?”

Ulysses looked at the Divine Statue with some confusion. As a member of the Gods Civilization, he was very familiar with the usage of the Power of Faith and could not ignore such elementary knowledge.

He flew around the Divine Statue twice, and eventually landed atop its head. As he recalled, a soul-wrenching pain stopped his thoughts instantly, and unfamiliar memories flashed before his eyes.

“Ga! Some of my memories have been shielded by my injuries!” Ulysses exclaimed in pain.

When he first arrived in the Wizard World, Ulysses thought himself fortunate that he hadn’t suffered any memory defects despite the serious soul injury.

Now it seemed he didn’t lack memory defects, but was simply unaware of them.

After the pain subsided, Ulysses kicked the Divine Statue beneath his feet in irritation.

“Ga, damned thing, had I known it was you, there wouldn’t have been so much trouble.”

“Are you alright?” Richard asked with some concern.

“Ga, it’s fine. Soul injuries are bound to cause some loss of memory; it’s not a big issue. The memories will come back once the wound heals,” Ulysses said indifferently.

Richard nodded at these words and then assigned him a task.

“If you’re fine, then this Divine Statue is yours to handle. Cut it into small pieces for me.”

“…Ga, I’ve suddenly encountered a problem. This is a Pure Gold Divine Statue. Do you want me to scratch it open with my claws?”

Facing Ulysses’s complaints, Richard remained unmoved and turned to face Inhardt.

“It looks like you have something to say to me.”

Inhardt, looking at this demon, spoke with a trembling yet firm voice:

“Kill me, you demon!”

Richard, puzzled, suddenly looked behind Inhardt at the World Mushroom.

“What did you do to him, World Mushroom?”

“Nothing much, Master. I paralyzed his pain senses according to your wish; I just didn’t make him unconscious.”

“…Don’t pull that kind of thing again in the future.”

“As you wish.”

Despite Inhardt’s request, Richard ultimately did not comply, and the World Mushroom’s anesthetic fluid put him into a deep sleep, a true sleep.

Inhardt would not die until the war in the Insect Nest World was over.

After dealing with Inhardt’s matter, Richard rested for a while, meditated for quite some time, and then feasted on Aldo Mushroom.

The effect of consuming Aldo Mushroom for the second time had a slightly diminished sting to the body.

This was a normal occurrence.

The human body adapts to such stimulation until it has no effect on the cells.

Richard had no intention of leaving the Secret Realm for the time being. Currently, the environment in the Insect Nest was harsh, and the insects’ persecution of wizards was severe.

Going out now would be like a mouse being chased everywhere, which was not as comfortable as staying in the Secret Realm.

Moreover, even if the headquarters inquired about it later, he had an explanation.

The losses of wizards within the Insect Nest were severe; managing to evade the insects’ pursuit and lying low was already a good situation—reckless action would be tantamount to offering oneself up for slaughter.

…

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, Richard had been in the Secret Realm for nearly a year.

Over the year, Richard’s Physique steadily improved to 99.9, with the trade-off being that Aldo Mushroom no longer had any effect on him. Besides that, during this year, he dissected each of the Mother Worm Guards, gaining a deeper understanding of this branch of the Insect Race.

Furthermore, the Secret Realm had expanded by nearly fifty square meters in this year, the height also increased by almost ten meters, and it continued to expand at a steady rate of five square meters each month.

The Pure Gold Divine Statue was also fully dissected by Ulysses within the year, and Richard had completely extracted the Power of Faith from it; the Pure Gold part was integrated into his Magic Wand—It wasn’t that Richard didn’t wish to make Armor, but the materials required to do so were extensive, and he couldn’t gather them all at present.

After all preparations were made, Richard opened the Secret Realm and returned to the Insect Nest.