Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Seven days before the start of the war, the entire Mirror World was calm and peaceful.

Neither side showed the slightest intention to make a move.

But any Wizard who was involved in the Academy war knew that this was just the calm before the storm.

The longer the calm lasted, the more thunderous and powerful the strike would be when it came.

…

Black Tower Wizard Academy

A team of Wizards was patrolling on top of the city walls.

After receiving news of the war, Black Tower Wizard Academy had undergone repairs and adjustments. Around the perimeter of the Academy, a series of black spires encircled the entire institution.

On top of each spire was a huge Crystal Tower Peak, which served both as a defense and as a measure for attack.

High, towering walls were also built between the spires, linking them together. These walls were engraved with Runes and Magic Arrays, forming a defense as strong as iron walls and bronze bulwarks.

And behind these walls, whether it was the test zone, the commercial area, or the residential district,

similar defense towers stood tall among them.

These towers were just as strong as those on the walls, with Crystal-made peaks on top.

And they had something more.

Gargoyles, fierce and terrifying, covered these towers with eyes so red they seemed filled with blood, as if at any moment they could break free from their stone form and descend upon the human realm.

After the modifications, the entire Black Tower Wizard Academy had essentially become a fortress with iron walls and bronze gates.

The Patrol Wizards moved from one spire to another.

It was deep autumn in the Mirror World, and the cold winds from the north carried a particular kind of Energy, as sharp as knives when they touched the skin. Even Wizards felt somewhat cold.

"Phew, the Wizard World of the past was truly terrifying," said one patrolling Wizard as he tightened his Wizard Robe around him, exhaling white breath as he spoke.

"Yes, I almost forgot what coldness felt like," added another Wizard from the patrol team.

"It's only deep autumn now. If it were winter, this wind would be as powerful as a Spell."

The thinning of Energy in the Wizard World was not actually a bad thing for humans.

The power of natural phenomena is directly related to the concentration of Energy in the environment. During the Enlightenment Age, when the cold winds of winter blew, even Wizards dared not recklessly step out of their Wizard Towers.

Terrifying ice and snowstorms treated all beings below the level of a Great Wizard without distinction. Even Undead creatures would have their Soul Fire scattered by the ice and snowstorms.

But after the retreat of the great Energy tide, although ordinary humans became weaker in Physique as the Energy waned,

the natural environment was no longer fearsome for Wizards.

Under the protection of Wizards, ordinary humans began to multiply rapidly, and even in the unprotected Wilderness, there existed human nations as numerous as stars.

The initially complaining Wizard exclaimed, "We are born in a good era."

Suddenly, the lamenting Wizard sensed something amiss.

Without thinking, he conjured a Magic Barrier to spring up around him instantly.

Sssss...

A grating, corroding noise reached the ears of the Wizards.

A dark green Energy arrow was now stuck in his Energy Barrier.

Behind him, a group of Wizards in black robes had, at some unknown time, climbed onto the city wall, and at this moment, his teammates had all been taken down.

"Enemy attack!"

The patrolling Wizard immediately wanted to release an alarm, but before he could act, a black-robed Wizard appeared beside him like a ghost. A stout arm broke through his Magic Barrier in an instant, crushing his skull into a pulp.

But just as the black-robed Wizard retracted his hand, wiping the brain matter from his palm,

the Wizard whose skull he had smashed suddenly emitted intense Magic Fluctuations, and a light burst forth from within his body, instantly merging into the Crystal Tower Peak of the city wall spire.

The next moment, the Magic Alarm erupted, sending special Energy Waves throughout the entire Academy.

The entire city wall was lit up in an instant, and teams of Wizards emerged from the towers, rapidly converging on the spire from where the alarm had been sounded.

The black-robed Wizard sighed, flashing a hand signal to his companions.

"Operation failed, prepare for a heavy assault."

"Yes!"

His teammates pulled out metal stakes about a meter long from their pouches and thrust them firmly into the ground.

The Runes on the stakes began to flicker, but the rescuing Wizards had already located them.

Boom!

A sun-like Fireball exploded around the small squad, the massive shockwave causing several Wizards to cough up blood.

Even some of the stakes on the ground were knocked over.

Seeing this, the black-robed Wizard wanted to right them back but was pummeled by the supporting Wizards' Spells, unable to move his hands.

The Runes on the metal stakes were quickly fully charged, out of more than fifty stakes that had been thrust into the ground, now only about twenty remained in place due to the aftermath of the Spells.

After charging, these remaining stakes established a subtle connection, starting to vibrate slightly with a uniform frequency.

The next moment, a massive cracking sound entered the ears of every Wizard present.

The towering city wall of Black Tower Wizard Academy was shattered to pieces, a huge crack spreading and eventually splitting the wall open.

And those twenty-odd stakes also turned into a heap of metal powder during the resonance.

Seeing the situation turning dire, the supporting Wizards fired another beam.

The receiving Crystal Tower Peak suddenly turned blood red, and a piercing alarm spread throughout the entire Academy.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Outside the city walls, the prepared Wizards from Meteor Star Academy began pouring into the Black Tower Wizard Academy through the breach.

The war had begun!

…

Black Tower Wizard Academy had armed itself like a spiked turtle, but Meteor Star Academy had not done the same.

As the initiators of the war, the Meteor Star Wizard Academy had undergone renovations, but they were still far behind the Black Tower Wizard Academy.

A large number of Patrol Wizard teams replaced the towering walls, and together with numerous keenly perceptive Synthetic Beasts, they defended the Academy's safety.

...

Outside the Meteor Star Academy's hills, a team of Wizards carrying lanterns was patrolling along a predetermined route.

"Really now, if those Wizards at the Black Tower Wizard Academy have all decided to turtle up, why are we even patrolling?" a patrolling Wizard complained.

The complainer's Wizard Robe was brand new, and he didn't have an aura of malevolence about him; his face still had a youthful "tenderness," showing at a glance that he was a Wizard who had never been on the battlefield.

"Exactly, the patrol is so tight, as if those cowardly Black Tower Wizards would dare to sneak attack us," chimed in another Patrol Wizard.

He was just as inexperienced as the complainer, only older.

Seeing his teammate's complaint, another Wizard spoke up: "It's really cold in this godforsaken place. There's no benefit to patrolling outside; it's truly suffering for nothing."

"You're telling me," another Wizard agreed.

Seeing signs of disorder in the team, the leading Patrol Captain suddenly turned around, his cold voice penetrating the ears of the complainers in an instant.

"Stop your complaining; you've done enough along the way.

If I hear any more out of you, you'll all receive a flogging when we get back."

The captain was the only Wizard in the team who had been on the battlefield, and compared to his teammates, he was as silent and stoic as a rock.

Hearing the reprimand from their captain made the Wizards fall silent, as if stricken by the cold.

They knew their captain was a man of his word; if they complained again, he would indeed subject them to a flogging.

A Wizard's flogging wasn't ordinary; it was a punishment of the soul, and every lash was akin to modifying a Magic Model.

The horror of that sensation was something they did not wish to experience.

The patrol team passed through a stand of dead trees, with a thick layer of fallen leaves that felt like walking on a cushion.

Suddenly, the captain stopped in his tracks.

He extended his lantern forward, and the gentle light of the lantern instantly dispelled a large swath of darkness.

The lanterns carried by the patrol were Magic Lanterns, and apart from providing light, they were a rudimentary means of preventing sneak attacks through Shadow Magic.

The stealthiness of Shadow Magic came from the commonness of shadows, but if the shadows were dispelled, then Shadow Magic would be as conspicuous as a black spot on white paper, and nowhere to hide.

The teammates all looked toward the place illuminated by the captain's lantern. In the bright light, there were two distinct depressions in the leaf layer.

These depressions resembled footprints, but the Patrol Wizards were certain that all large creatures around the Academy had been cleared out to prevent someone from using Transformation Techniques to infiltrate the Academy.

So how did these depressions come about?

The Patrol Captain's face grew solemn, and his spiritual power suddenly expanded to the limit as he tried to locate any similar depressions.

But he found nothing.

"Am I just being paranoid?" the Patrol Captain wondered silently.

He retracted his lantern, ready to move forward.

But the Synthetic Beast he was leading suddenly lay down on the ground.

"What's going on?"

A Magic Barrier suddenly erupted from the captain's body, and the Magic Wand in his hand was ready to be unleashed.

A strong sense of danger surged in his heart.

As a Wizard who had experienced war, his instincts were usually spot-on.

But this time, accurate as they might be, his instincts were useless.

A faint smell of blood entered the captain's nose, and a terrible thought flashed across his mind. His head turned back, trembling.

Behind him, a towering Iron Giant stood with the previously complaining Wizard in its grip. The rest of his team now lay on the ground, their skulls indented.

Some had their necks twisted, with fresh blood flowing from the severed necks, explaining the bloody scent he had smelled just moments before.

"Enemy attack!"

The Patrol Captain wanted to immediately sound the alarm.

But before he could act, he saw the Iron Giant, with soundless steps, approach him.

Then a fist of steel dominated his entire field of vision.

Thump!

...

After dealing with the patrol team, the Iron Giant began to clean the battlefield.

Since he was careful, the fight left almost no traces.

After clearing away the blood and brain matter-stained leaves, the Iron Giant piled up the bodies and respectfully said toward the trees:

"Master, the cleanup is complete."

Out of the forest, a Wizard in a black robe emerged from the leaves with a trace of excitement on his face.

This person was Richard, who had infiltrated the Meteor Star Wizard Academy.

It was now the thirtieth day since the war had begun, and under the onslaught of the Meteor Star Wizard Academy, the Black Tower Wizard Academy had already lost several defensive Spires.

A gap had been created in the Academy's previously impenetrable defenses, and the Meteor Star Wizard Academy continued to send reinforcements in an attempt to widen it further.

For this reason, the command had ordered all the Wizards who had previously infiltrated the Meteor Star Wizard Academy to start their operations.

They were to divert a portion of the Meteor Star Wizard Academy's forces to the rear and thus alleviate some pressure from the front lines.

Richard patted the Iron Giant, praising him: "Well done, swift and clean."

He then went over to the pile of bodies, taking away the Wizards' Magic Equipment and Magic Pockets.

Their bodies were burnt right there by Richard.

Richard pointed at the corpses, and a white-hot flame "flowed" from his fingertips, incinerating the bodies to ash. During the process, the leaves beneath the bodies weren't even ignited, but were left with slight scorch marks.

With a wave of his hand, Richard sent a breeze to blow the scorched leaves deep into the forest.

Looking at the brightly lit tower a few kilometers away, Richard raised his hand and softly said,

"Let's move on."