Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 505 - 504: The Future Direction of Magic Runes

Chapter 505: Chapter 504: The Future Direction of Magic Runes

At the auction, there was a full three seconds of silence, creating a somewhat desolate atmosphere, which inevitably caused some embarrassment for the host. He turned his head to look at one attendee, then another, his lips pursed tightly in an effort not to show his discomfort.

But the host had anticipated such a situation.

In fact, at every auction, there would be one or two occurrences like this—the bidders were not fools, nor were they easily coaxed. To sell an item of no use at a high price required, besides persuasive speaking, a bit of luck—and now, luck had run out.

"Sigh—"

Taking a deep breath, the host prepared to announce that the item was unsold when, at that moment, a bidding number was raised.

Richard spoke up, "One thousand gold coins, I’ll take it!"

"Hm?" The host was taken aback.

Richard repeated, "One thousand gold coins, I’ll take it."

"Uh." The host finally reacted, looking towards Richard with a mixture of gratitude and curiosity,

while Richard’s face, hidden under his cloak, showed no change whatsoever.

He did this not out of kindness, nor a desire to find a bargain, and certainly not because he had a sudden change of heart and took an interest in the Corpse Oil Painting—it was merely because of... the frame.

Yes, the frame.

If he was not mistaken, the frame was made of a rather rare metal. Although purchasing it for one thousand gold coins was a bit expensive, his recent experiments would likely require it. It wouldn’t be too much of a loss to buy it, and it would save him a great deal of trouble.

The host on stage was oblivious to this, simply assuming that Richard, out of his good heart, was saving the situation. With a smile and confirming that no one else wanted to compete with Richard—the "kind fool"—the host joyfully announced the ownership of the Color Painting, "Then, this painting will go to bidder number twenty-one."

Afterward, the host swallowed, clearing his throat before saying, "Alright, let us welcome the next item for auction..."

And so the auction continued uninterrupted...

During the rest of the auction, Richard occasionally placed bids. Besides acquiring a few small Magic Rune Magic Tools, he won items that in the eyes of others were valueless "junk." This caused the people around him to hold very little malice towards him.

Seeing Richard’s supportive bidding, the corners of the host’s mouth were nearly splitting with joy. He was extremely friendly towards Richard, and very sincerely expressed the hope that Richard would attend the next auction of "junk"... well, the auction.

Richard was noncommittal to the host’s invitation. After the auction had finished, he simply completed the transaction and left with a box full of auction items.

He encountered no trouble along the way, such as being followed or robbed, and Richard returned safely to his rented place in Florence City.

...

In the afternoon, in a secluded corner of the southeast area of Florence, stood a somewhat shabby courtyard that Richard had returned to, walking through its gate.

This was the place Richard had rented soon after arriving in Florence. The surrounding environment was similar to the courtyard he’d had in White Stone City—secluded, quiet, undisturbed, with no risk of being spied upon, and the comings and goings were not too troublesome.

Additionally, this courtyard was a step up in size compared to the one in White Stone City—it had three sections.

Due to the perfection of Eden, most experiments no longer needed to be conducted in the outside world. Although the courtyard was larger, many rooms hadn’t undergone any modifications and were simply used as temporary storage for supplies.

Only a few rooms had been processed, outfitted with some experimental equipment, mainly for use in experiments that were difficult to conduct within Eden—such as those requiring natural light and natural environmental conditions.

"Squeak—"

With the door now shut behind him, Richard briskly crossed the courtyard to the last section’s building.

This looked like an ordinary study room with nothing peculiar, but when Richard approached the bookshelf, he pulled a lever on it, and immediately a passageway leading downward slid open in the corner of the room.

Following the entrance of the passageway and descending tens of meters underground, he entered a spacious hall covering more than a hundred square meters.

The walls of the hall were embedded with several fluorescent stones that emitted a dim glow, barely illuminating everything.

At the center of the hall stood a half-meter-tall stone platform, upon which rested a briefcase.

Richard walked over, but did not attempt to lift the briefcase; instead, he bent over and opened a hidden compartment beneath the platform, pulling out an identical briefcase to the one on top and opened it.

White light shone faintly from the briefcase, as Richard, holding the wooden box, stepped into the white light.

...

Eden.

Richard, carrying the wooden box, appeared here.

After several months, Eden had undergone quite a few changes.

The first change was the electrical system that had been upgraded, increasing the energy supply limit and optimizing the circuitry to reduce the likelihood of power failures.

The second change revolved around the central main laboratory, where numerous functional sectors had been perfected. Added sectors included the experimental animal breeding sector and the mechanical processing sector, among others.

The mechanical processing sector was a focus of Richard’s improvements, where he invested a lot of effort and constructed numerous pieces of equipment, using up almost all the parts Pandora had painstakingly processed over time.

After appearing in Eden, Richard looked around to make sure there were no issues, confirming that Pandora hadn’t caused any trouble, he felt somewhat relieved.

He first stepped up to the light control console of the main laboratory, adjusting the light intensity in Eden to match four hours after sunrise, aligning with the outside conditions, then he walked toward the mechanical processing sector.

...

Mechanical Processing Sector, Research Lab.

This was a white room of over fifty square meters, filled with various precision instruments. In the corner stood a wooden table, and along the wall, there were several bookshelves holding numerous books and scrolls.

Richard entered, walked up to the wood table and casually placed the wooden box to one side, then took several scrolls from the bookshelf, opened them and browsed, trying to pick up where his thoughts had left off last time.

He had knowledge from the Island Treasure which he’d been pondering on the way to Mo’er and had studied seriously after settling in Florence City.

The more he studied, the more complexity he found, and with it, numerous difficulties; naturally, this also indicated its high value.

This knowledge was another application of Magic Rune Magic.

The so-called other application was not about producing some magical spell effect on Magic Tools, nor was it about making explosives with White Jade Plates or other items, but rather applying it on a larger scale on devices, using the connections and superimpositions of multiple Magic Runes to exert a systematic application.

In simple terms, if the typical effect of a Magic Rune was an offensive shell, then the effect of this application was comparable to a multi-stage rocket capable of spaceflight, except it was a multi-stage Magic Rocket.

This method was not just about sketching patterns, triggering spell effects through collisions of Mana or Free Energy Elements. Compared to the common method, this approach delved deeper into the fundamental, profound, and esoteric aspects of Magic Rune application.

If previous Magic Runes were simply regarded as circuit diagrams, then current Magic Runes were akin to highly integrated chips - Spell Chips.

A circuit could be used to control a light switch and that’s all it did.

But a chip was different, capable of doing a variety of things depending on how it was made.

This was the core of Magic Rune, the correct direction for research!