Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

The City of Eternal Truth remains bustling, with groups of Wizards weaving through the city. The entire Floating City looks like a cold metal hive.

Upon entering, guided by the fairy summoned by a Working Wizard, Richard easily found the Furnace Man archive room hidden among countless rooms.

In this prime piece of real estate of the City of Eternal Truth, archives concerning the Furnace Man and other previous civilizations take up an entire small library.

Inside this archive room, numerous relics from ancient civilizations are displayed.

From the Pioneers' Crystal Floating Cannon to sword fragments long enough for a person, and even to the still exquisite though damaged Melter.

Most of these relics have no practical value, but their existence alone is valuable enough.

Walking among the bookshelves, Richard found an introduction to an ancient civilization.

In the Wizards' archaeological discoveries, there are many ancient civilizations. From archaeological findings across different worlds, before humans became Wizards, the World Community had already gone through several cycles of life.

These civilizations are collectively referred to by Wizards as ancient civilizations.

However, due to their great antiquity, ancient civilizations have little research value, so Wizard research has always focused on the civilization before Wizards, known as the Previous Civilization collective.

According to archaeological data, the Previous Civilization was a very prosperous period.

In the archaeological discoveries by Wizards alone, there are seven or eight Previous Civilizations.

Among them, the ruins of the Lost Ones civilization have been excavated the most by Wizards, and they are referred to as the Furnace Man, followed by the Titan civilization.

The remaining civilizations have very few relics, and the remnants have little research value.

However, as mentioned earlier, their existence is their greatest value.

The appearance of these relics poses a great question for Wizards — many of these civilization's relics are excavated in the same world, with almost no chronological gap between them.

To Wizards, this is simply an incredible thing.

Civilizations are exclusionary, at least among the civilizations Wizards have currently encountered, this point holds true without question.

But based on this point, there are only two explanations for this situation.

One is that at that time, the Star Realm was in chaos, with a world repeatedly changing hands as the norm. The other explanation is that civilizations at the time formed an alliance under external pressure.

"War quagmire, war alliance... these two sound like related matters from different eras."

Richard closed the book in his hand and returned it to its position with his Magic Hand. Then he drew a magic book about the Furnace Man from the bookshelf beside him.

Due to issues from the excavation of civilization relics, Wizards' understanding of the Previous Civilization is mainly limited to three great civilizations. Among them, the Furnace Man civilization, because of the number of relics and issues with remaining tribes, is the most understood by Wizards.

The Furnace Man is so named because its culture is permeated with the element of the Melter.

In Furnace Man architecture, the most common murals depict a group of Furnace Men prostrating around a giant Melter.

The Melter is their faith; they believe the world is the raw material for a gigantic Melter, and one day, the world will be melted, and everything will become one.

According to current findings, the Furnace Man is a humanoid race.

If the individuals of the remaining tribes have not degenerated, their average height should be around one and a half meters.

The Furnace Men progressed along a dual Evolution path. Those within the tribe who embarked on the path of Evolution, Spiritual Evolvers, are called Stove Fire Apostles, while Physique Evolvers are called Melting Furnace Craftsmen.

This is a race skilled in the arts. Their relics often consist of a grand architectural complex, connected by earth veins, integrating with the environment, appearing as if naturally evolved.

These features almost led the discovering Wizards to mistakenly identify them as the ancestors of Magic Dwarfs.

The reason for the destruction of the Furnace Man civilization is unknown. By the time Wizards discovered them, these beings had become beasts driven only by instinct.

They roamed in groups around their ancestors' magnificent structures, allowing vines and mold to erode these masterful creations.

Wizards tried to tame these creatures and awaken their intelligence. However, all experiments failed, with no success in either taming or awakening.

Some Wizards attempted to incorporate this race's Bloodline, only to be inexplicably incinerated by flames at the moment of integration.

A Great Wizard of the Curse School conjectures that the reason for the downfall of the Furnace Man civilization might be a Curse Virus transmitted through their Bloodline.

This Curse Virus prevents the fusion of the Furnace Man's Bloodline, dooming this once brilliant civilization to remain forever as beasts.

"...Yet another mystery."

Richard rubbed his forehead. The mystery of the Pioneers' extinction remains unsolved, and now another Furnace Man has emerged.

Beyond them lies the demise of the Titan civilization and a host of unidentified civilizations.

Richard felt as though the world was a giant maze.

Be they Wizards, Galaxy Mayfly, gods, or Abyss Demons, they all seemed like unlucky souls trapped in this maze.

If they cannot find a way out of this maze, they will undoubtedly be consumed by its monsters, spoken of as a Previous Civilization in a future time.

Continuing to flip through the pages, Richard came across records concerning the Supreme Furnace mentioned by the Mayfly Quasi-Emperor.

Due to their Melter worship, the Furnace Man's homeworld housed the Supreme Furnace, located on the mountaintop.

This Melter is the cornerstone of the Furnace Man civilization. Its flames allegedly consume all, including Illusionary Dimensions. Should these records not be hyperbolic, the Furnace Man even used the Supreme Furnace Flames to incinerate a Star Realm Master from a Different Dimension, burning their originating Illusionary Dimension to ashes as well.

At the end of the writing, Richard found a note appended by the author — to prevent misinterpretation, the magic books in this archive room are all original copies from the author, so notes like this are quite common.

The note states that according to the latest archaeological data, a legend exists among the Furnace Man.

The legend holds that after every Furnace Man dies, their soul enters the Supreme Furnace, adding fuel to its unending flames.

We all know that legends are disguised truths, perhaps the loss of the Furnace Man's intelligence is connected to the disappearance of that Supreme Furnace.

"This fits."

Richard closed the book, muttering to himself.

If the Miracle Furnace is as expected, it should be the Supreme Furnace of the Furnace Man. But the unraveling of one mystery has only brought him more enigmas.

Why did the Supreme Furnace of the Furnace Man go missing, and how did it end up under his control?

This terrifying object is powerful enough to burn down a dimension; even a formidable Star Realm Master might not be able to control it, let alone a Truth Wizard.

"Is it destiny again?"

Richard could feel that something was definitely hidden behind the Miracle Furnace.

He still remembered the reminder the Miracle Furnace had given him.

"To my successor whom I have yet to meet, congratulations on finally taking the first step."

"But you must remember, everything given by destiny has a price marked in secret."

He had already accepted the gift, and perhaps he was now walking the path of repaying that price.

"Ah, what a headache."

Richard returned the Magic Book to the shelf, a cloud of worry on his face.

In the past, he could say that when the sky falls, someone tall would support it, but now he is on the road to truth, becoming that tall person who supports the sky.

Faced with these issues again, he can no longer return to the carefree mindset of the past.

"Pioneers, Furnace Man, Titan, and all those miscellaneous civilizations. What exactly did you civilizations encounter?

Why is there not a single record about destruction?"

With worry in his heart, Richard continued to walk in the archive room, noting down all the research about the previous civilizations.

Though he didn't know if it would be useful, knowing a bit more would never be a disadvantage.

While flipping through the books, a soul-trembling sensation made him shiver instantly—

The Miracle Furnace was giving him a sign.

Richard looked around, seeing a stand cabinet to his left.

Inside the cabinet's force field, a square meter-sized metal cube adorned with patterns was placed.

According to the cabinet's introduction, this metal block is speculated to be a collaboration product between Furnace Man and Titan.

Because the metallic patterns on it are typical of Furnace Man style, but judging by the shape and size of this metal block, as well as the internal energy circuit, its volume is astonishingly large.

However, this theory is not confirmed; other explanations equally perfectly explain this metal block's characteristics.

The Miracle Furnace gave a reminder, so Richard would not possibly pass it up.

Although this item belongs to the exhibit, to fiddle with it would just mean paying a fine. His war merits may not have come down yet, but the remaining merits would be enough to pay the fine.

Reaching into the static force field, for a Three Rings Wizard, this force field would be like a formidable barrier, but for Richard, it was no different from air.

The instant his fingers touched the metal block, the Miracle Furnace transmitted an information.

"Material: Flame Information Storage Device"

"Extractable Information: Dimension Coordinate 2456, Doomsday Spark Base Coordinate"

"Extraction Consumption: 200 spiritual power"

"Extractable Information: Flame Information Storage Device Blueprint"

"Extraction Consumption: 100 spiritual power"

Looking at the information given by the Miracle Furnace, Richard felt a sudden shock in his heart.

Doomsday Spark Base?

Could it be that the Titan Civilization or the Furnace Man Civilization have sparks surviving in a different dimension?

But soon Richard realized, this was impossible.

If sparks from these two civilizations were surviving in a different dimension, then the world community's current form would be entirely different.

For a civilization, as long as the spark is preserved, reigniting it would be no big problem.

And now, the world community is full of new civilizations, indicating that there are absolutely no preserved sparks, or the sparks they left have some issue.

Without hesitation, Richard immediately chose to extract.

Because a piercing alarm had already started sounding in the archive room.

Bzzzz bzzz bzzz...

Amid the alarm, a Working Wizard dressed in white robes came into the archive room.

He looked at Richard, his expression was serious with a hint of tension.

"Sir, you have violated the archive room's browsing rules, and now I have to ask you to leave.

Until you pay the fine, you will not be allowed to enter the archive room."

Richard smiled, returning the extracted Flame Information Storage Device to its original place.

"No problem, where can I pay the fine?"