Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Chapter 104: Chapter 4 Tower of Truth

Having left the Golden Dragon Wizard Academy, the Wizard Apprentice and his master took several more airships. During the journey, Richard witnessed many wonders, like the uninhabited region he was looking at now.

“This area, according to the map, should be called Barto Peak,” Jolod pointed to a large basin not far away and said, “During the wizarding wars, this peak was transformed into a fortress by the Alchemy School. A Great Wizard from the Shape-shifting School destroyed the fortress and left a nearly permanent space distortion phenomenon here.”

As he spoke, Jolod waved his magic wand and sent a fireball technique hurtling towards the center of the basin.

With a booming sound, the entire basin’s space suddenly twisted, and space rifts appeared out of nowhere. Elemental surges burst forth, rapidly creating an elemental storm within the basin.

Anything that was swept into it was torn apart into its most primal elemental form.

“These space rifts lead to the Four Elements Territory; the elemental beings we summon all come from there, including your Fire Element Giant.”

...

Richard watched the spectacular scene in the basin and couldn’t help but start recording data.

Years of travel had ingrained in Richard the habit of documenting any strange phenomena he encountered.

Jolod glanced at Richard and nodded in approval, his eyes full of admiration.

The most important thing for a wizard is the heart that seeks knowledge.

After leaving Barto Basin, Jolod took Richard towards the Tower of Truth.

…

“Is this the Tower of Truth?” Richard asked, looking at the shadow in the distance that was like a mountain range.

That shadow connecting heaven and earth didn’t look much like a tower at all. If Richard were to describe it, the term “Heavenly Pillar” couldn’t be more appropriate.

“Both yes and no,” Jolod replied.

“What does that mean?” Richard was somewhat puzzled.

Jolod sighed as he looked at the shadow of the Tower of Truth: “Because that is merely a part of the Tower of Truth. The true core of the Tower of Truth is hidden within the Void, visible only to those granted permission to glimpse a fraction of its entirety.”

Having said that, he waved his magic wand, leading Richard as they flew toward the Tower of Truth.

Jolod’s flying speed was very fast, but Richard always felt the distance between them and the Tower of Truth never seemed to decrease.

It was the first time Richard experienced what was meant by “A watched pot never boils.”

After about a day of flying, Richard and his master finally reached the foot of the Tower of Truth.

And Richard got to witness the appearance of this gigantic tower—a towering, heaven-piercing World Tree.

Richard found it difficult to put into words the grandeur of the tree because no matter how magnificent the adjective, it seemed powerless before it.

The canopy covered hundreds of kilometers in radius and almost blotted out the sun. Flocks of fireflies, big as hot-air balloons, flew beneath its canopy. Although it was daylight, Richard felt as though night had fallen.

Seeing all this, a term popped into Richard’s mind—World Tree.

Only this term was worthy of this immense tree.

“The primary structure of the Tower of Truth consists of five World Trees from otherworlds, growing endlessly by absorbing magic power. The venerable Truth Wizards nurtured them with a vast amount of magic stones, ultimately forming the main structure of the Tower of Truth,” Jolod explained as they flew.

The entrance to the Tower of Truth was a deep blue teleportation gate at the base of the giant tree, resembling a colossal eye. The gate was enormous, allowing even flying airships to pass through without any difficulty. A multitude of wizards, each exuding an unfathomable aura, passed in and out of the gate.

“Let’s go, hurry and advance to wizard,” Jolod urged.

Stepping through the teleportation gate, the familiar sickness surged again in Richard’s chest. However, now that his spiritual power and physical condition had improved, the sensation was not as unbearable.

As the scenery before his eyes returned to normal, Richard arrived in a dazzling space.

In front of him, countless wizards flew across the sky, tracing brilliant paths. On the ground were buildings of various shapes and sizes—some looked like office buildings, while others resembled nests made of tree branches. Placed together, they gave Richard a surreal impression.

He looked up and discovered that the sky above was not a ceiling but a real sky complete with a sun.

“Is this a secret realm?” Richard asked uncertainly.

“You’ve guessed right.”

Jolod led Richard through the flight, and during this time, Richard saw many strange creatures that must have been slaves brought from other worlds by wizards. Finally, master and apprentice arrived at a teleportation gate identical to the one that led into the Tower of Truth.

“The layer we are now on, the first thirty floors of the Tower of Truth, is for the dwelling of wizards who live in the Tower of Truth. They are the main force in the Plane War,” Jolod explained.

“The main force?” Richard was somewhat confused. “Aren’t the wizards trained by the Academy enough?”

Jolod gave him a glance as if Richard had asked a silly question.

“We are from the Black Wizard Academy. Where do you think the White Wizard Army comes from during a plane war? Moreover, the wizards trained by the Academy aren’t sold to the academy. As long as you’ve participated in a plane war for the academy once, you are theoretically free.

This dwelling layer in the Tower of Truth is for those Free Wizards.

In addition to the Free Wizards, the Wizard Academy also establishes wizard communities in the residential area, allowing those who have signed contracts with the academy but do not wish to become teaching staff to live here, making it convenient to summon them for plane wars.”

Richard’s cheeks reddened, and he gave an embarrassed smile.

He indeed hadn’t thought about these things.

Passing through the teleportation gate, master and apprentice soon left the residential layer.

The residential layer was situated above the commercial layer, where the Wizard Commerce of the Wizard World sold bizarre products from all over the world and even from Otherworlds, along with all kinds of Otherworldly slaves.

Jolod took Richard around for a tour and in just that short encounter, Richard had witnessed more than a dozen different types of Otherworld creatures.

These Otherworld creatures wore slave collars on their bodies. Though their aura was weak and listless, Richard could still sense that these creatures were all Level 1 Creatures.

“Are Level 1 Creatures really just sold as goods?” Richard asked in disbelief.

According to his assumption, Level 1 Creatures, as they were, should be relatively superior slaves, and most Wizards ought to use slaves with the strength of an Apprentice.

After all, most Wizards were only Level 1 Creatures, or One Ring Wizards.

“Don’t think of Level 1 Creatures as so rare, Richard,” Jolod said with a smile as he explained, “You now feel that Level 1 Creatures are unattainable because you are a Wizard Apprentice and have seen too little.

In fact, Level 1 Creatures are the most basic of infantry in the Plane Wars.

Only when one reaches the Level 1 Creature status do they qualify to enter the Plane Battlefield.

Each time a Plane is conquered, Wizards can capture tens or hundreds of millions of slaves from the conquered Plane.

A small proportion of these slaves are sold on the market to compensate for the losses of Great Wizards in the Plane Wars, while the majority are kept by the Great Wizards to serve as Slave Armies.

After all, we face off against a world with an Academy, if we didn’t have fighting forces to deplete the strength of the natives, our losses would be severe.”

Richard nodded thoughtfully after listening.

It suddenly occurred to him that the limbs and fragments of these slaves upon death seemed like excellent materials for cultivating Synthetic Beasts.

If ten thousand slaves died, the remaining flesh could form quite a few Synthetic Beasts to continue serving as cannon fodder.

No wonder mastering the technology of Synthetic Beasts was essential for every Academy.

“Of course, don’t underestimate yourself.”

Jolod paused, feeling somewhat uncomfortable telling such things to Richard, an Apprentice about to be promoted to a Wizard. @@novelbin@@

His student had fought tooth and nail for the qualification to advance, only to end up as infantry on the battlefield, which sounded quite disheartening.

So he comforted:

“Wizards and these things are not the same. Although both are Level 1 creatures, we are far stronger than these native aliens by more than just a star.”

After leaving the commercial layer, Richard immediately felt the density of Magic Power in the air drop as he looked around and saw the cold metal replacing the soil. Looking up into the sky, Magic Stone Lamps replaced the bright sun.

He was now inside a Steel Hall, which was full of Wizards; when Jolod appeared, they all turned their attention to him.

“We are now in the working layer, directly governed by the Judicial Department of the Truth Council, and any violation of the law will be strictly punished,” Jolod whispered, “I’ve heard that the punishment for breaking the law here is twice as severe as outside.”

Richard nodded nervously, following Jolod to a corner of the hall.

“Wizard promotion,” Jolod handed the Wizard Scroll to the staff member.

The staff member took the scroll and channeled Magic Power into it.

A beam of light shot out, hitting the Crystal Stone on the staff member’s forehead.

“Alright, is it this child who wants to be promoted?” the Wizard asked, looking at Richard.

“Yes.”

“Child, come here.”

Upon hearing the call, Richard did as instructed and approached the working Wizard, who looked almost like an ordinary human except for a colorless Crystal Stone on his forehead.

He asked Richard to extend his hand and placed a Magic Mark on it.

“The mark is complete. You have three minutes left to talk. After three minutes, you will be automatically teleported to the promotion room,” the working Wizard stated indifferently.

Richard looked at Jolod, and Jolod looked back at him.

Mentor and apprentice exchanged no sentimental words, but Jolod walked over and patted Richard on the shoulder.

“There is a phase in Wizard promotion known as ‘Soul Darkness’. When you fall into the Soul Darkness, you will enter a space that is nothing but endless darkness. In that space, your sense of time will become distorted, some Wizards even feel as though they’ve spent an epoch there before awakening.

But I want you to remember, don’t panic.

As Wizards, boredom and loneliness are enemies we can’t shake off. When you are engulfed by the Soul Darkness, just remember one thing.

That is to persevere.”

Jolod’s voice was as calm as it was during his usual teaching, but those familiar with him could instantly tell that his voice was lower than usual.

The promotion to Wizard was a matter of life and death.

Jolod had many students and many of them had fallen at this hurdle.

“I understand, Teacher.”

Richard smiled and then, as time elapsed, he vanished in a burst of white light.