Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Chapter 288: Chapter 9 The Storm is Brewing

Paradise City was located at the junction of two flying airship routes, which gave it a geographical advantage.

The incessant flow of flying airships brought the city a wealth of goods and a vast amount of wealth, but wealth bred corruption.

In Paradise City, none of the laws of the mortal world existed. The dominators of Paradise City were the Nine Stars Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber was a wizard company, which was only bound by the laws issued by the Truth Council.

Thus, the Mortal Zone of Paradise City became a city synonymous with sin.

As long as you had money and were a mortal without transcendent powers, you could do anything you wanted in Paradise City.

Hallucinogens, slave trade, murder paradise… all the corrupt acts you could think of as a mortal were possible in Paradise City. If that wasn’t enough, you could even find wizards to serve you—provided you could afford the price.

Such pleasures were extremely dangerous, for with just a bit more force in their actions, a wizard could break a mortal’s bones. A little displeasure could “scare” a mortal to death with life radiation.

And yet, many tycoons who had started their fortunes through trade would still throw in fortunes just to enjoy the sensation of reigning over wizards.

…

On the flying airship, Richard sat in his room, silently arranging the rune array in front of him.

In the air, symbols formed from concentrated magic power shifted positions, creating the special model of a Ghost Work Ball.

As Richard moved the position of one rune, the entire model suddenly became extremely unstable. The runes drifted from their original positions under the influence of magic power, which further exacerbated the influence.

In just a few milliseconds, the originally stable rune model suddenly turned into a magic power bomb about to explode.

“Ga, you’ve failed again,”

The out-of-control rune golem suddenly solidified in the air, after which a shadow wrapped around the entire model and shrank it to the size of a jellybean, which Ulysses then swallowed in one gulp.

Richard’s expression remained unchanged, “What experiment doesn’t have failures? Besides, I’m modifying the model of the Heart of Annihilation; you know its principle.”

“Ga, honestly, I don’t recommend you continue studying this annihilation reaction. Not only is it high in the danger index, but its ceiling is also quite limited,” Ulysses rarely offered advice to Richard.

“The basic principle of your spell is the annihilation of two elements, but controlling high concentrations of elements is very energy-consuming.

If the efficiency of your element compression is not high, then the power of the spell will be diminished. If you pursue power, then you must seek more efficient compression methods.

But there are limits to compression.

When you reach a peak, it will be difficult to advance further while the gains are very minimal.”

Richard once again congealed a rune in his hand, as if not hearing Ulysses’ advice.

“I’ve known this for a long time, but you can’t deny, this spell is very useful at the mortal stage.

I didn’t avoid you with the news from three days ago. You should know my current situation.”

Three days ago, Richard had received several magical messages.

The senders were from Jolod, Anna, Chax, and Ali.

And all these messages mentioned one thing, the Academy War.

The Black Tower Wizard Academy was about to face an Academy War.

Due to the terrible consequences of the Great Wizard conflict during the Enlightenment era, the Wizard World now not only forbids Great Wizards from taking action within the Wizard World, but they are even prohibited from walking with their real bodies within the Wizard World.

In such cases, if two Great Wizards had a grudge, there were only two ways for Great Wizard conflicts.

One was to start a true man’s 1v1 battle in the Star Realm.

And the other was the Academy War, as mentioned in the messages Richard received

The so-called Academy War meant Great Wizards would not act directly but would have their subordinates, the junior wizards, fight amongst themselves.

Each wizard academy had a large number of faculty and staff, and Great Wizards recruited these people not only to facilitate expeditions to different planes but also to prepare for the Academy War.

Once the Academy War began, the World Guardians would transfer both academies, along with all their wizards, into a Truth-Level Magic Equipment known as the World Realm.

At that time, the two academies would engage in a fifty-year-long Academy War in a space similar to a secret realm.

Any actions carried out in the war did not violate the laws instituted by the Truth Council.

After the war, the two Great Wizards could not initiate an Academy War again for a thousand years.

…

There was no judgment of winning or losing in the Academy War, each side had its own standards.

The most common was to consider the destruction of the other academy’s Core Wizard Tower as a victory.

The Core Wizard Tower was the heart and soul of an academy.

It was not only the core of a Wizard Academy but also one of a Great Wizard’s foundations.

The Wizard Tower was the everyday dwelling of a Great Wizard, a symbol of the Great Wizard’s presence in the Wizard World. Without the Wizard Tower, the Truth Council would not recognize your status as a Great Wizard.

Moreover, almost all Great Wizards would leave safeguards within the Wizard Tower to prevent a complete fall in Otherworld expeditions or walks in the Star Realm.

If the Wizard Tower was destroyed, these contingencies would certainly be compromised.

Moreover, because of the principle that Great Wizards were not allowed to act, reconstruction of the Core Wizard Tower had to rely on other wizards and would be a prolonged process.

During this period, Great Wizards could not recruit students, partake in Otherworld expeditions, or even attend any events held by the Truth Council.

Furthermore, if a Great Wizard failed to reconcile with the victorious Great Wizard after the Academy War,

It was likely that after the thousand-year war cooldown period had passed, another war declaration would come.

The Great Wizard would then fall into a cycle.

“Ga, I must say, your Academy War is indeed a clever approach,” commented Ulysses.

“For a civilization, those at the World Master Level are the core forces. The death of a strong person at this level due to infighting is a loss to any civilization.

And you ‘mortals’ are not so precious.

Moreover, I estimate that although this Academy war is not mandatory, every Great Wizard will choose to fight in the Academy war.

This war is akin to a stepping stone.

Losing the war is just a sign that the underlings are not up to par, not that the Great Wizard is inadequate. It looks better for both sides in terms of saving face.”

Richard remained silent for a moment, his tone full of resentment as he said,

“No matter how much I analyze it, how wise the decision is, or how good it is for the Wizard civilization, it’s useless.

For me at present, it’s the worst strategy.”

“Gah, that’s for others, not for you,” Ulysses countered, “You’re fighting Wizards this time.

If you’re a bit luckier and with your furnace, your strength will skyrocket afterwards.”

Richard glanced at him and said irritably,

“I have to survive first. The World Mirror cannot admit those at the World Master Level strength, so you’ll just be a cheerleader in this war.”

Ulysses scratched his head with a gaggling sound:

“…Gah, this is a situation with both risks and opportunities. Go for it; I’m rooting for you.”

…

[Paradise City has arrived. Passengers destined for this location, please disembark.]

[Paradise City has arrived. Passengers destined for this location, please disembark.]

Hearing the announcement in the Flying Airship, Richard scattered the runes in front of him and collected the scattered Magic Books in the room.

He then opened the window and flew out of the Flying Airship.

Outside the Flying Airship, thousands of Flying Airships ascended and landed in the vast airship field. Passengers continually disembarked from the airships, converging together like a hundred rivers flowing into the ocean.

Richard took out a Crystal Ball and sent a message filled with Magic Power.

In less than half an hour, a spherical flying vehicle with a rather lavish shell landed next to the Flying Airship Richard was on.

Passengers coming and going around the Flying Airship looked at the flying vehicle with astonishment, but some extravagantly dressed tycoons, upon seeing the symbol on the vehicle, immediately bowed their heads in a slight bow, not daring to take another glance.

“What is your lordship doing…”

“You fool, that is a VIP flying vehicle from the Nine Star Chamber of Commerce. The person it’s picking up is not someone you can afford to look at!”

The flying vehicle door opened, and Bob, wearing a monocular, emerged. Upon seeing Bob’s Wizard Robe, even the dullest person knew to show respect.

In such a crowd, Richard, who was looking around, stood out particularly.

“Haha, brother Richard, you’re finally here.”

Seeing Richard, Bob immediately opened his arms, and Richard walked over with a smile, and they hugged each other tightly.

“Brother Bob, you are as splendid as ever. Seeing how happy you are, I imagine you’ve been promoted recently?”

“Haha, it was just luck, just luck.”

While chatting with Richard, Bob ushered him into the flying vehicle.

Then the hatch closed, and the vehicle became a ray of light flying toward the center of Paradise City.

From beginning to end, Bob never glanced at the mortals on the ground, even though some of them were wealthy enough to rival nations, while others had the power to decide the life or death of thousands with a single command.

Among the crowd, someone muttered, “Who is this big shot who could make Vice-President Bob come out to meet them personally?”

…

In the flying vehicle, Richard and Bob sat in a room that was obviously larger than the dimensions of the vehicle would suggest.

Around them, it was as though the vehicle had no metal shell at all, as they had an unobstructed view of the outside scenery.

“Brother Richard, I’ve heard you’ve struck it rich lately. Richard Jolod’s Commerce’s name, in our circles, is about to become a smaller version of Tesla’s.”

Bob sat opposite Richard, holding a thick cigar in his hand, his smile on his face very affable.

Hearing this, Richard replied modestly, “Not at all, you’re giving me too much credit.

We just got lucky making a weapon, and it happened that some important figures in the White Wizard Army took a liking to it. Tesla Chamber of Commerce leads the Alchemy Weapon industry. Our little endeavors can’t even compare to one of their fingers.”

Bob took out a box of cigars from his pocket and offered it to Richard,

“You’re too modest, brother. Here, try this, it’s top-notch stuff our chamber offers exclusively to VIPs.”

Richard accepted and opened it, finding a row of brown cigars. He picked one up and sniffed it in front of his nose, frowning slightly.

“This has been laced with Heavenly Hemp stems. If I remember correctly, it’s meant to be hallucinogenic and to stimulate the brain to secrete endorphins.”

Bob nodded, praising him, “Not bad, being able to design the Magic Support Vehicle makes you an Alchemy Master. You know your alchemy materials inside and out.”

Richard stuffed the cigar back in and pocketed the whole box.

“This stuff can impair judgment; I think I’ll enjoy it some other time.”

Bob smiled slightly, “Don’t be so serious, brother. As a Wizard, you should indulge a little more.”

Richard didn’t take the bait, asking calmly instead,

“There’s plenty of time for enjoyment later. Brother Bob, you didn’t invite me all this way just to attend an auction and show me around Paradise City, did you?”