Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

"It seems you have already figured it out," the Knight whispered.

"The Bone Lord made a deal with the Wizards, who performed the sealing and territory construction for the Bone Lord. The Bone Lord is responsible for protecting the territory and providing enough Nightmare Knights to them."

Richard stroked his chin, "So, the specific management is done by the Wizards?"

The Knight shook his head slightly, "Yes, and no. We and the Wizards both have management rights over the territory, and on most days, we manage it more. Those Wizards typically don't show up."

Richard nodded slightly, thinking to himself that this was normal. As long as the production was not problematic, researching in the laboratory was much more interesting than managing a bunch of oddly-shaped Nightmare Creatures.

"Summon the Bone Lord, I have some questions to ask him."

"This..."

The Knight's face showed difficulty.

"What's wrong?" Richard asked.

The Knight hesitated for a moment but finally answered truthfully, "Waking the Bone Lord requires the territory to be under attack. Otherwise, those Wizards will use the excuse of us arbitrarily using the Power of Nightmare to cut our quota of Nightmare power.

Over the years, Wizards need more and more of the Power of Nightmare, and the amount we can get dwindles. If they cut it further..."

"Alright, I understand." Richard raised his hand to stop him, "Take me to the Wizards' leader."

"Ah? Why do you want to find the Wizards?" The Knight said anxiously, "These Wizards have great power, and some Great Wizards are comparable to Nightmare Kings, so don't act rashly."

The Knight had never met Richard, but he had heard about Richard's deeds.

In the words of the Bone Lord, Richard was a great Nightmare Creature. He used near-prophetic means to find this city under the noses of numerous Nightmare Lords and was the undisputed Lord of this territory.

The Knight feared that his newly awakened Lord would lose his life due to misunderstanding the situation.

"Just take me there. You don't need to worry about anything else."

Richard's tone was gentle yet carried undeniable authority. This was the aura of someone who had held a high position for years, unknowingly transforming Richard from a battlefield solider into a battlefield General.

The Knight was overawed by this aura, feeling as if he was hearing his namer, his Lord the Bone Lord, speaking to him.

"...Alright, please follow me."

The Knight led Richard away from the manor, through the long central avenue, to the outskirts of the Extreme North City. Here stood a few somewhat "bulky" Wizard Towers.

Looking at these very modern Wizard Towers, Richard frowned slightly but said nothing.

"Only a few people?" Richard asked casually.

"Yes, my lord." The Knight replied respectfully, "Several hundred years ago, there were more Wizards, but in recent years, their numbers have dwindled."

Richard nodded slightly, feeling somewhat pessimistic about the wizard civilization's situation.

Entering the Wizard Tower, the Knight rang the doorbell. After a while, a sleepy voice came through the intercom next to the doorbell.

"Nightmare Creature, you'd better have a good reason."

Upon hearing this title, a subtle energy wave emitted from the Knight's body, raising his voice several pitches.

"Wizard, my name is Rick!"

"Hmm, Nightmare Creature. State your purpose, or I will activate the Wizard Tower's defenses."

Knight Rick was about to speak again, but Richard interrupted him from the side.

"Are Wizards so lax these days?" Richard's voice carried a cold gravity.

Rick couldn't see it, but the scene inside the Wizard Tower could not be hidden from a Great Wizard. Inside the tower, a gaunt, sallow Wizard with dark circles under his eyes was lying in a recliner, smoking a hookah while chuckling foolishly at a Crystal Ball.

As an Alchemy Wizard, Richard could easily see that the Wizard was smoking something containing extracts of the Heavenly Blue Sky Hemp Stalk. The last time Richard encountered such a thing was during Bob's inheritance issue with the Chamber of Commerce.

"Hmm? Who are you?"

The Wizard perked up a bit upon hearing Richard's voice; he sat up, tapped the Crystal Ball twice, and pulled up the image from the entrance. Seeing a Wizard-like figure standing outside the door, he was startled.

"Oh no, someone from above is here for inspection?"

But soon, he settled back into his chair.

"Gave me a fright, turns out it's a Nightmare Creature that looks like a Wizard."

Listening to the Wizard, Richard's frown deepened outside the door.

Could it be that Wizards haven't even mastered the Nightmare Body technique? It shouldn't be; this technique isn't difficult.

Or are Wizards not conducting research on the Nightmare World? That's not right, even without research, these Wizards should be conducting it on their own.

Could it be these Wizards have no curiosity?

Richard has become increasingly pessimistic about the Wizard Civilization.

"Open the door, little Wizard, or are you planning to let me crash in forcibly?"

"Crash in forcibly?"

The Wizard chuckled and then tapped twice on the Crystal Ball. In an instant, a Magic Wave emanated from the Crystal Ball, and the entire Wizard Tower immediately entered defense mode.

A thick Magic Barrier, like a city wall, separated the Wizard Tower along with its front and back yards from Richard.

"If you have the guts, crash in forcibly." The Wizard's voice was filled with mockery. Saying this, he tapped twice more on the Crystal Ball, contacting other Wizards from a few other Wizard Towers.

"Guys, we've got a fool today. A Nightmare Creature says it wants to crash into my Wizard Tower—ah! How did you get in!"

The Wizard looked at Richard in front of him, his voice distorted with fear. This is the Nightmare World; all the protections of this Wizard Tower are made of the best materials. Even if the Nightmare Lord came, it would need to use the Nightmare Rules to engage in a fight for a while. But how did this Nightmare Creature...

"Let me introduce myself. I am the Lord of this Nightmare Territory. Of course, this is just one of my identities."

Speaking, Richard's soul emerged from the Nightmare Body. Even though Richard had sealed his own soul, the trace of pressure leaking out almost suffocated the Wizard before him.

"My main identity is that of a Great Wizard. Little guy, I'm curious whether you are just a case of trash or a normal state."

...

Buzz——

The vibration of the Crystal Ball awakened Wuni from his research.

As a newly promoted Great Wizard, he has fifty years of rest time to construct his Rule Body and adapt to his abilities. Until this rest time ends, he doesn't need to enter the front line and can conduct some leisurely logistics work from the rear.

"A report from the Nightmare World?"

Wuni looked at the information within the Crystal Ball, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

"Has the recent demand for Nightmare Power been too excessive, and those Nightmare Creatures have rebelled?"

The Nightmare Power Furnace is an epoch-making power furnace for Wizards, opening a new door for the Alchemy School. Since then, the Tesla Chamber of Commerce, now the Tesla Magic Institute, began simplifying the Nightmare Power Furnace and developing different model furnaces to suit various situations.

There's no way; compared to the Nightmare Power Furnace, which is almost a perpetual motion machine, the Alchemy Machines that consume Magic Essence look like a question mark from a game teammate.

If it weren't for the output limits of the Nightmare Power Furnace, even the anti-dimension power furnace of Floating City would be replaced.

Under this demand, the Nightmare Farm that produces Nightmare Rules also came into being.

Due to some ancient pacts and the influence of the front line situation, Wizards didn't engage in large-scale war with the Nightmare World. After negotiating with those ancient Nightmare Kings, Wizards now have one hundred Nightmare Farms in the Nightmare World.

Wuni's recent job is to manage these farms.

Opening the information, Wuni casually glanced at it, but soon, his gaze became fixed.

He rubbed his eyes and then stared closely at the information on the Crystal Ball, word by word. Upon confirming he hadn't misread, his hand holding the Crystal Ball trembled slightly.

"The mentor has returned! The mentor has actually returned!"

Without wasting a second, Wuni immediately opened the gateway to the Nightmare Dimension. After pushing the gate open, he immediately saw a calm Black Robed Wizard, along with several new Wizards kneeling beside him.

Seeing the suddenly appearing Wizard, Richard naturally opened his arms and smiled, "Wuni, long time no see, didn't expect you to become a Great Wizard."

Embracing Richard tightly, Wuni looked at the figure before him, wanting to voice thousands of words from his chest but unable to say any.

He wanted to know where Richard had gone over the years, what he had been through, why decades of being thought dead had suddenly turned into news that Richard was alive, and why Richard appeared now... But upon seeing Richard's figure, all these questions faded away. He could only repeat tearfully, 'Mentor, you have finally returned.'

Noticing Wuni's tears, Richard patted his back lightly and said, "Don't cry, you're a Great Wizard now; you should have the demeanor of a Great Wizard. Great Wizards are reliable as mountains; how can you cry like a child?"

After a while, Wuni loosened the embrace, gathering his burst emotions back.

He looked at the Wizards kneeling beside Richard and respectfully asked, "Mentor, did these little fellows offend you?"

The kneeling Wizards shivered upon hearing Wuni's inquiry.

Richard shook his head, "They didn't offend me; it's just that these little fellows are too scatterbrained and lacking in respect for Great Wizards. So I taught them a slight lesson."

Wuni glanced at the Wizards, his voice cold as he said, "What stupid thing did you do!"

The Wizard who first approached Richard raised his head hesitantly.

"G-g-g... sir, we..."

"They didn't say much." Richard said casually, "They just said I'm not the Great Wizard responsible for them and have no right to punish them. One little fellow even pulled a Judicial Department statute from the Crystal Ball, trying to explain the law to me. Wuni,

is it so easy to become a Wizard now? Even such fools can become Wizards?"

Wuni paused in silence for a moment and then nodded under Richard's disbelief.

"Yes, mentor, the criteria for becoming a Wizard now are indeed that low."