Chapter 427: Wasted Land (Patreon)

Chapter 427: Wasted Land

After leaving the battlefield, Richard found a secluded corner to hide.

His points were already sufficient, so there was no need to engage in further battles with other Wizards.

Moreover, most Wizards within the competition zone had formed alliances by now. The only solo Wizards left were either unlucky individuals who hadn’t found teammates or ruthless figures like Delis.

Though Richard was confident he could win against such Wizards, there was always the risk of an unexpected defeat.

So, playing it safe, he decided to hide and wait for the competition to end.

A few days later, the new competition zone was finalized.

But the direction of the shrinking zone took all the Wizards by surprise.

Richard frowned as he examined the updated range on the fairy map. The reduced competition zone was quite far from his current hiding spot.

"The military did this on purpose," Richard couldn’t help but mutter.

The first zone reduction had been uniform, but this time, the zone had shifted sharply to the lower-left corner of the map.

It was clearly deliberate—meant to force most Wizards to move.

After all, Richard wasn’t the only one with the same idea.

Sighing, he tucked the Star River Mayflies specimen into his pocket.

"What a hassle."

...

Boom! A massive black sphere suddenly expanded midair, swallowing a Wizard whole.

On the vast plain, a towering Wizard clad in metallic armor was locked in combat with several others.

"Don’t use Soul Spells! His resistance to them is absurdly high!" a black-robed Wizard wearing a pale mask suddenly shouted.

Blood trickled from his orifices, and he looked on the verge of collapse—clearly suffering from Spell backlash.

The other Wizards grew even more uneasy at the sight.

This wasn’t the first bad news they’d received during this fight.

The Alchemist Wizard before them was terrifyingly strong. Despite ambushing him with seven Wizards, they hadn’t been able to end the battle quickly. Instead, two of their own had been taken out instantly by his beam Spell.

The remaining five, though prepared, had only managed to neutralize the Magic Equipment responsible for that beam Spell.

Yet the Alchemist Wizard’s overwhelming strength continued to give them headaches.

His formidable physique, devastating Spells, impenetrable defenses, and seemingly boundless Magic Power made it feel as though they were the ones being besieged—not him.

They weren’t wearing him down; they were the ones barely holding on.

"Retreat!" one Wizard yelled.

The situation was growing increasingly dire. From seven, they were now down to three who could still fight. If this continued, their ambush would backfire, and they’d all be eliminated.

"Retreat?" The Alchemist Wizard sneered. "Too late!"

A surge of intense energy erupted from his armor.

In the next instant, he appeared beside the shouting Wizard, his dark-gold staff descending with earth-shattering force.

Throughout the battle, he hadn’t even activated his armor’s full power.

Bang! The Magic Barrier shattered, and the dark golden staff, carrying immense force, instantly triggered the Wizard's protective mechanism, teleporting him back to the palace complex.

The remaining two Wizards, seeing this, immediately exerted all their efforts to flee the battlefield. Their speed was so astonishing it left onlookers dumbfounded.

"Tch, running away just like that?"

The Alchemist Wizard lifted the visor of his armor, revealing his true face.

This Alchemist Wizard was none other than Richard, who had been forced out of hiding due to the military's inhumane actions.

"Seven Wizards ganging up on me, and I still took down six of them. The weaker they are, the more they stick together, huh?"

The selection trials were nearing their end, and the remaining Wizards who weren't strong enough could only survive by relying on numbers.

But unfortunately, they were Black Wizards.

Unlike White Wizards, Black Wizards lacked the extensive experience and coordinated techniques for group combat. When Wizards of the same number formed a team, the combat power of a Black Wizard team was simply the sum of each individual's strength. In contrast, a White Wizard team's combat power would multiply several times over that baseline.

Under such circumstances, once Black Wizards formed a team, they already had one foot on the line of elimination.

The only question was how soon they'd be knocked out.

A tiger doesn't need a pack.

Using radiation manipulation, Richard devoured the residual energy radiation on the battlefield, replenishing his Mana Recirculation at an astonishing speed.

Once fully restored, he summoned a sprite to confirm his location.

After all, this battle had involved seven Wizards. No matter how formidable Richard was, he had been forced to shift battlefields multiple times.

The sprite projected a map in the air, and Richard let out a quiet sigh of relief when he saw the circle not too far from his current position.

Finally, almost there.

The past two days of nonstop travel had left him thoroughly exhausted.

Pulling two metal ingots from his pocket, Richard began using Battlefield Alchemy to perform minor repairs on his Personal Armor.

In this stage of the battlefield, the defensive capabilities of the Mechanist Type I Individual Armor were no longer sufficient.

Even the weakest Wizards who made it to the inner circle could unleash Spells with energy levels starting at seven or eight thousand.

With even a slight application of rule-based power, the energy level of their Spells could easily surpass ten thousand.

An armor that could withstand four thousand energy levels was practically as flimsy as paper in these battles.

Yet despite this, Richard still refused to remove the armor.

Aside from the Radiant Beam Cannon, the armor's propulsion system was also a great aid to him.

The Personal Armor wasn't just for protection—it was also a weapon in itself.

Once the repairs were complete, Richard flew toward the marked area on the map.

Two hours later, his entire body crossed into the new arena.

The final competition grounds were also a plain—an endless expanse of flatland with sparse trees scattered like stars.

Not a single misplaced note, word, or detail!

Richard crouched down and brushed aside the loose soil beneath his feet. Underneath, the earth was scorched black as if burned by fire.

Staring at the blackened soil, he murmured, "Seems like this must have been one of the military's main battlegrounds when they conquered this world."

Straightening up, he gazed into the distance. This plain, which should have been teeming with life, now carried an air of desolation.

Vast stretches of land lay barren, with only sparse trees dotting the landscape like the few remaining hairs on a bald man's head.

Ten years had passed, and this battlefield seemed to have fallen into an eternal slumber alongside the lives lost in the war.

"What a waste," Richard sighed softly.

If properly developed, this plain could sustain tens of millions of lives.

But to Wizards, this land held no resources, nor any anomalies worth studying—making it utterly worthless.

The living space of Wizards was simply too vast, so vast that enormous swathes of land were nothing more than empty terrain, devoid of any value.

Beyond this world, Grand Wizard Galon and the Great Wizard Bronze Spear observed Richard's every move through a mirror.

"Waste?" The Great Wizard Bronze Spear couldn't help but shake his head. "Galon, this little fellow of yours has rather unique ideas. I don’t see anything wasteful about this place."

"Waste..."

Grand Wizard Galon was also puzzled by Richard's words.

Land without resources was useless to Wizards. And useless land wasn’t worth expending effort to manage—this was a consensus among all Great Wizards.

"I’m not entirely sure either, but Richard’s way of thinking is indeed different from ordinary Wizards.

Have you tried using that Magic Support Vehicle yet?"

The Great Wizard Bronze Spear nodded. "We have, but aside from saving costs, we haven’t found any advantages. The fact that its casting components need replacement after a single full-power use is just terrible."

The Wizard World's Expansion Department possessed the most extensive arsenal of strategic Magic Equipment in the entire Wizard World. Many of these Magic Equipment pieces were too expensive to deploy on a large scale.

But for the well-funded military, cost was never an issue.

Thus, what seemed like a revolutionary tool to ordinary White Wizard Legions was, in the eyes of the military, just another ordinary support weapon.

They had long since equipped weapons with similar functions.

"Saving costs is the greatest advantage," Grand Wizard Galon said calmly. "I asked Green Pine, and he told me that every White Wizard Legion equipped with Magic Support Vehicles saw a significant reduction in casualties during Plane Wars. The speed of warfare also increased.

And all of this was achieved with just a few million Magic Essence.

In the past, would you have believed someone who claimed that spending just a few million Magic Essence could significantly reduce legion losses?"

The Great Wizard Bronze Spear fell silent. A few million Magic Essence might sound like a lot, but to a Great Wizard, it was mere pocket change.

And for the Wizard World, such an expense was practically negligible.

Yet, with just this small investment, the overall strength of the Wizard World had improved.

Even if the improvement was minor, it was still a tremendous step forward.

"Just wait. In a couple of days, when this boy enters the Hanging Garden, you can ask him yourself," Grand Wizard Galon remarked offhandedly.

"Me? Personally ask him?" The Great Wizard Bronze Spear was taken aback.

Grand Wizard Galon frowned slightly and turned to his old friend.

"My dear friend, has your brain truly rusted? Or has being the Minister of the Expansion Department gone to your head, making you think you’re somehow superior?"

"Arrogance is the greatest hindrance to a Wizard's progress. If you do not change this mindset, you will never step through the gates of truth in this lifetime."

The Great Wizard Bronze Spear fell silent once more. After a while, he replied quietly, "My mindset does indeed have some issues.

The pursuit of truth has no need for arrogance."

...

In the arena, Richard was unaware that his casual remark had drawn the attention of a Great Wizard.

At this moment, he was immersed in a sudden new idea that had occurred to him.

Land was useless to Wizards because even if ordinary people colonized a new world and advanced to become first-level beings, they would still need to return to the Wizard World to complete the process.

This was because humans were not native to the colonized worlds and thus were not recognized by the world's origin.

But Richard suddenly thought—what if he used bloodline Spellcraft to create subspecies of humans?

Wouldn't that allow them to deceive the world's origin, enabling these subspecies to become first-level beings in the colonized worlds? (End of chapter)