Chapter 78: Gem Cave
Laboratory, culture tank.

Several black and white meat balls were rolling around inside. Evelyn, Wanda, and Pietro next to them were all melted by the cuteness of these meat balls. If it weren't for the protective shield, the three of them would probably have rushed in to hug them and play with them.

“Teacher, can you let me raise one?” Evelyn hugged Richard’s thigh and said pitifully while blinking her big eyes.

"They are not cute pets, but ferocious beasts. If you want to raise them, you must have enough strength." Richard said with a smile.

"Then mentor, how can we raise them?" The three little ones looked at Richard expectantly.

"At least you have to learn Explosive Fireball." Richard said. Explosive Fireball is a fifth-ring spell, an advanced version of Fireball. To learn it, you have to be at least level 12.

After hearing the request, the three of them were filled with fighting spirit: "Teacher, we will definitely learn the Explosive Fireball Technique!"

"Come on!" Richard encouraged.

In addition to the cute iron-eating beasts, there are also a large number of beetles in another cultivation pool next to it. These beetles are gem beetles. After the incubation period, these gem beetles will enter the growth period.

The food of the jewel beetle is various minerals. They will devour various minerals, and some of the substances in the minerals will be eaten by them, and some will be extracted and condensed on their shells. There are many kinds of gems condensed on the back of the jewel beetle, including ordinary rubies, sapphires, diamonds, etc., among which the most valuable are magic gems.

Magic gems contain magical power, and their value is far beyond that of ordinary gems.

The type of gemstones that jewel beetles produce is influenced by what they eat, and their taste preferences will affect the type and quality of the gemstones. Jewel beetles usually grow to the size of a basketball, and the size of the gemstones they produce ranges from pigeon eggs to chicken eggs.

There are also a few jewel beetles that can reach one meter in size, and the gems produced by jewel beetles of this size are usually of top quality.

A small number of gem beetles can be placed in the wizard tower and fed with various ores, but if you want to breed them on a large scale, it is best to find a mineral vein and let these gem beetles reproduce and thrive on the vein.

Gem beetles are magical creatures that need to live in areas where magic is relatively active. In this case, it is only necessary to build a rune array in the area where they reproduce.

Richard planned to breed jewel beetles on a large scale, so he naturally had to find a large mineral vein. Fortunately, Amerika was rich in resources and there were many mineral veins. He planned to find a mineral vein to release the jewel beetles.

After spending some time, he easily found the general map of the mineral veins in America. Richard selected a suitable mineral vein on the map, and then used the teleportation technique to teleport there several times.

Teleportation usually requires spatial coordinates. If there are no spatial coordinates, then one needs to use one's own mental power to calculate the coordinates. This method requires clear data on the coordinates, otherwise if there is a problem with the coordinates, one will be teleported directly into the mountain or under the earth, and then one will be in trouble.

Therefore, high-level mages will basically activate protective spells when teleporting in order to prevent this kind of situation from happening.

A flash of teleportation light passed by, and Richard appeared in a forest. The system quickly scanned the surrounding environment and easily found many mineral veins around.

While discovering the mineral vein, Richard also found a mining cave not far from the mine. Obviously, the mine was owned by someone. But this did not affect Richard's decision to come here to get some minerals.

How can you call it stealing when it comes to the work of a great arcanist? This is a major matter for maintaining world peace and the safety of Blue Planet! You are contributing to the safety of all mankind, and you should feel honored. "System, scan the surrounding area and mark the mineral vein information."

"Task is being established. Scan is started." An invisible force swept across quickly with Richard as the center, passing through the woods, mountains, rocks, and then quickly returned.

“Building real-time image model.”

Soon, a holographic image appeared in front of Richard's eyes. A large amount of data was marked on the screen, and the most important mineral vein information was listed one by one. In addition to this information, the earth vein energy was also marked on it.

“Find the areas that are best suited to establish jewel beetle habitat.”

"Calculating. The best area has been marked."

"The design drawings for the jewel beetle habitat have been completed."

As the system sounded, a large number of drawings appeared in front of him, with all kinds of information marked on them. Seeing that the drawings were completed, Richard immediately began to build a habitat for gem beetles here.

For Bai Qi the Arcanist, building a habitat is not difficult. With the two magics of [Turn Fossils into Mud] and [Turn Mud into Stone] in hand, construction is as easy as piling up blocks.

[Fossils to Mud] The basic spell range is ten cubic meters, and the spell effect can be doubled with each level of casting. According to Richard's current spell level, it can affect one hundred and ninety cubic meters at a time.

Richard arrived at the designated location and began to cast a spell according to the design. As the spell light flashed, the rocks in an area on the ground softened instantly. Then Richard waved his hand and collected the soil into the demiplane. A two-meter-high and one-meter-wide passage appeared before his eyes.

Soon, Richard came to the end of the passage, cast a spell once again, and then collected the soil. Soon a passage that went five hundred meters deep underground was completed.

This area is also the area with the richest mineral veins. Richard then began to expand around it. After a while, a hall appeared in front of him. Then Richard began to lay rune arrays according to the design drawings to connect the surrounding earth vein energy and transform this place into an elemental active area.

At the same time, in order to prevent collapse, Richard set up some stone pillars around and cast hardening magic on these stone pillars.

It took a day to build the rune array and connect the earth vein energy around it. As the array was activated, the earth vein energy around it immediately gathered here, and soon the concentration of elemental energy around it increased several times.

Richard released the gem beetles that had already hatched. After a short period of adapting to the environment, they quickly climbed onto the nearby ore veins and began to eat the ore. Seeing that these gem beetles were living well, Richard nodded with satisfaction and then released the remaining gem beetles.

Gem beetles reproduce very quickly, with a growth cycle of three to six months. Mature jewel beetles will produce hundreds of eggs at a time. It only takes a few months for tens of thousands of jewel beetles to reproduce here.

After completing the construction of the habitat, Richard closed the passage he dug and set up a teleportation array here. From today on, this became the first resource point outside Richard's wizard tower - the Gem Cave.

(End of this chapter)