In the study of the wooden building, Richard sat at the desk which was covered in papers filled with text, numbers, and formulas, all materials for his future research.
Although his research path was already determined, how to proceed, and how to optimize and upgrade at every step required careful thought.
Richard stared intently at these materials, pondering continuously.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door, and with a "bang," the door was flung open—Jia Lie entered without asking permission, a rare occurrence.
The gasping Jia Lie, breathless and unable to speak, gestured frantically toward the window of the study.
Richard didn’t need Jia Lie’s direction to notice the anomaly. Walking to the window, he saw a streak of blue light swiftly approaching from the night sky outside the estate.
The blue light grew closer, seemingly targeting the Blue Lake Estate. Richard’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Moments later, accompanied by a loud noise, the blue light descended into the estate, crashing onto the ground like a meteor.
A fiery pillar several meters high shot up, starting as red and then sequentially turning orange, yellow, green, teal, blue, and purple.
As the purple flames slowly dissipated, the figure of Bobbobovic Vici appeared.
Bobbobovic Vici stood in front of the stone building, looking up at Richard who was at the stone building’s window, and spoke, "Wizard Richard, I’ve heard from Harry and Cathy that you’ve said ’the facts speak for themselves’? Also, that I might be hiding my true power and could easily defeat you?
Well, I’m here to tell you, you guessed right, I have indeed been concealing my strength. So let’s cut the chatter and see who is stronger, who is more deserving to be the teacher of Harry and Cathy!"
With a "creak," Richard opened the window of the study and looked at Bobbobovic Vici, "Wizard Vici, do you really have to do this? We don’t really have a big conflict, do we? Why the need to fight? It wouldn’t be good if someone gets hurt."
"No big conflict?" Bobbobovic Vici smirked, "That’s for you to say. For me, you’ve stolen my students and indoctrinated them with useless things, hindering their learning progress; I’m quite upset, you know? As for getting hurt accidentally during the fight, well, rest assured, I won’t use my full strength—I’ll stop at just enough; I won’t let you get too severely injured."
"Wizard Vici, you might have misunderstood; the person I was talking about getting hurt was you. You might be able to control your power precisely, but I..., you might have heard, I am a research-focused wizard, not adept in controlling power; I might strike harder than I intend to," said Richard slowly.
Bobbobovic Vici: "..."
After a moment of silence, he shouted, "Then I should thank you for your concern, but... don’t worry about me. Like I said, I hid my strength! I’m no longer the Level One Little Wizard; I am a Third Level Wizard now! Enough to counter whatever you throw at me! Even if I do get hurt, I won’t blame you."
"So, Wizard Vici, you’ve been hiding your strength all along," Richard observed, looking at Bobbobovic Vici, "Now I’m curious about something."
"Bobbobovic Vici isn’t really your true name, is it?" Richard remarked, "To my knowledge, such an odd name isn’t common."
Bobbobovic Vici’s complexion slightly changed; then stiffly, he said, "Why do you care so much? If you can beat me, I might just tell you the truth."
"Alright then!" Richard sighed, agreeing.
"Great," Bobbobovic Vici’s eyes brightened as he waved his hand to cast a spell.
Richard quickly gestured to stop him, "Hold on, Wizard Vici!"
"What now?" Bobbobovic Vici appeared impatient.
"Just one small issue," said Richard, "This estate was very expensive when I bought it. It would be a shame if it gets destroyed during our duel. Maybe we should move further away before we begin."
"What a hassle!" Bobbobovic Vici frowned, "It’s just an estate, how expensive can it be! I am a Third Level Wizard; I do have some money. Just tell me how much you paid for this estate, I’ll compensate you if need be."
"I bought it for fifteen thousand Gold Coins, equivalent to one hundred and fifty Low-grade Crystal Coins."
Bobbobic Vici slowly looked up at the sky and said seriously, "You know, I don’t like fighting on the ground. How about we fly higher and fight?"
"Exactly my thoughts," Richard replied as his body leaped up, easily passing through the window. He then released a spell, wrapping his body in a faint layer of pale gray energy, and shot up like a rocket into the sky.
"Very good, let me see what you’re capable of, Richard!"
Bobbobic Vici shouted after him. With a step on the ground, his body surface emitted a dazzling blue light, chasing Richard into the sky, getting further and further from the ground.
Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters.
Fifty meters, seventy meters, ninety meters.
In the blink of an eye, they reached a hundred meters high, a height sufficient to encompass the entire Blue Lake Estate.
Bobbobic Vici was about to control his body to stop and prepare to confront Richard, but when he looked up, he saw Richard had not stopped and continued to ascend.
Slightly stunned, Bobbobic Vici was puzzled, but still followed Richard, ascending and increasing the distance from the ground.
One hundred and fifty meters, two hundred meters, two hundred and fifty meters.
Three hundred meters!
Bobbobic Vici stopped, hovering in mid-air, looking down at the Blue Lake Estate, which looked like a scale model, feeling somewhat unaccustomed.
Honestly, a height of three hundred meters wasn’t much different from a hundred meters, but he rarely flew this high; after all, he wasn’t a bird.
Yet, he continued to look upward, gritting his teeth, because Richard had not stopped, continuing to rise. Richard’s outlying energy was a faint gray, contrasting starkly with his own body’s bright blue glow, making it vague in the night. If his eyesight weren’t good, he might have lost sight of him.
What the hell, why fly so high? Was it going to be difficult to fly down later?
Bobbobic Vici couldn’t make sense of it, but gritting his teeth, he still strained and kept up with Richard’s ascent.
He was now truly infuriated, feeling he must properly teach Richard a lesson, justifying the effort he made to fly this high!
Three hundred and fifty meters, four hundred meters, four hundred and fifty meters!
At a height of five hundred meters, an entire kilometer, Bobbobic Vici stopped again, his body slightly swayed, feeling a bit dizzy since he really had never flown this high.
Looking at the lights below, it felt somewhat surreal, taking a while before he snapped back to the matter at hand, to confront Richard.
Thinking this, Bobbobic Vici couldn’t help but startle, thinking: Surely Richard won’t continue to rise?
Suddenly, he looked up, widening his eyes.
He didn’t see Richard continue to rise, but he couldn’t see Richard at all in his field of vision—he didn’t know when Richard had disappeared into the night sky, nor whether he had flown even higher or in some other direction.
Bobbobic Vici was conflicted, unsure of what to do.
Continue to rise, trying to find Richard?
Or perhaps, simply lower his altitude and return to the ground?
Bobbobic Vici agonized, while three hundred meters to the south, Richard stopped moving.
Turning his head to look north, Richard could clearly see a bright blue light sphere hovering still, looking like a heavy, flying target.
Moreover, this target seemed sturdy, unlikely to break easily, possessed some intelligence, could dodge, and could counterattack—it was perfect for a real-life test of his Fighter mode.
What was he waiting for?
With a flip of his hand, a Miniature Magic Tracking Missile loaded with a warhead appeared.
Aiming in the direction, he activated the missile, and with a "whoosh," the Miniature Magic Tracking Missile rapidly flew out.