Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Giant Dragon Alchemy and Wizard Alchemy are profoundly different, focusing heavily on the metal itself.

Giant Dragons smelt metal, shaping it into their desired form, then "killing" the metal to alter its properties, and finally elevating the metal, solidifying its characteristics and strengthening it further.

Throughout this entire process, the metal remains unchanged in terms of substance.

However, the properties of the metal undergo changes; initially brittle metals become more ductile after treatment, and originally soft metals become harder.

This technique, while present in Wizard Alchemy, requires a high level of Alchemy Skill and complex Alchemy Arrays.

Yet Giant Dragons only need to touch the metal with their claws for this transformation to be completed.

Turning stone into gold is no different.

But there are flaws in Giant Dragon Alchemy as well; although it can make astounding changes to metals, this technique only works on metals, and not all metals at that.

Wizard Alchemy, on the other hand, encompasses everything and is effective almost universally.

Richard looked at the longsword in his hands and an idea suddenly struck him.

If one were to use Giant Dragon Alchemy to process the metal and then use Wizard Alchemy for Enchantment,

wouldn't he then be able to obtain a more outstanding piece of Magic Equipment?

Richard's thoughts flickered, and a small Alchemy Array immediately materialized in his hand, spirits permeating, Engraving Runes, everything proceeding smoothly.

But at the moment the Runes took shape, Richard heard a crisp sound.

Snap!

A crack appeared on the longsword.

The crack was exactly where the Runes were engraved.

Seeing this, Richard immediately inspected the longsword. After the inspection, he sighed deeply, "No wonder there are so few Wizards who study Giant Dragon Alchemy; it turns out that the two are incompatible.

The Runes interfere with the Giant Dragon Alchemy, causing both Alchemy techniques to fail."

Giant Dragon Alchemy, after all, is the domain of the Giant Dragons, and Wizards, even with direct refining techniques like Richard's, would have to spend a considerable amount of time learning to master it. Given the incompatibility, wouldn't that time and energy be better spent on researching Wizard Alchemy, which is more suited to Wizards?

Wizard Alchemy, having developed over many years, has already become a vast field of study, and even the great Truth Wizard cannot claim to fully comprehend Alchemy.

It's like two gold mines, one shining openly and the other hidden deep underground; even a fool would know which one to choose to mine.

Richard set the longsword aside and then took out the few Black Gold Scimitars he had acquired.

Upon touching them with bare hands, the Miracle Furnace immediately responded.

Richard refined them as well.

However, such large-scale refining techniques made Richard discover a problem.

While the crafting techniques of these scimitars were all moderately incomplete, the production processes and the craftsmen's skills were quite similar, causing his skill level to progress only slightly after refining so many scimitars.

His skill level did not grow linearly with the number of refinements like an experience bar.

Nonetheless, Richard had no complaints; no one would complain about the amount of money found on the ground.

When the refining process reached the White Wizard Captain's Black Gold Scimitar, the information from the Miracle Furnace changed a bit. Below the option for Giant Dragon Alchemy, a new option for refinement appeared.

"Ingredient: Fire Lizard's Scimitar",

"Refinable Technique: Giant Dragon Alchemy (Moderately Incomplete)",

"Refinement Cost: 4 Spiritual Power",

"Refinable Information: Giant Dragon Alchemy Tree Pattern",

"Refinement Cost: 5 Spiritual Power",

"Tree Pattern?"

Richard shifted his gaze to the scimitar; the scimitar's surface had many intricate golden patterns, which were by-products of Giant Dragon Alchemy, comparable to a Wizard's Runes.

"Refine."

The Black Gold Scimitar vanished suddenly, then reappeared.

A white Light Ball emerged above the Miracle Furnace.

Richard absorbed it, and information about the Tree Pattern instantly entered his mind.

After a while, Richard opened his eyes.

"...Life Drain, such a fine thing."

According to the information refined by the Miracle Furnace, the effect of the Tree Pattern on the scimitar was Life Drain, which means it could convert the blood of the enemy into Life Energy, nourishing the user.

Such effects were achievable by some Spells of the Necromancy School.

But Richard had only heard of it.

Magic Models — unless they were common goods, it was rare to find them on the market; they were usually circulated in private transactions.

"Plane Wars are truly a good place to make a fortune."

Richard exhaled, and collected all the scimitars, then took out his Magic Wand.

Inspired by the Tree Pattern, even though the two Alchemy techniques were incompatible, he could physically merge them.

The upper half of the Magic Wand used Wizard Alchemy, the lower half used Giant Dragon Alchemy, connected by a pure mechanical structure in the middle.

During combat, he would use the upper half to kill the enemy, then use the lower half to insert into the corpse for Life Drain.

It was both a weapon and a means of recovery.

Richard thought of this and couldn't help but crack a small smile; he immediately pulled out some draft paper and got to work.

Since he was idle, upgrading his equipment to enhance his combat capabilities was just right.

...

While Richard leisurely enhanced his strength, the battlefield situation also began to change.

After changing their marshal, the Fire Lizard side abandoned their elite strategy and began using a large number of Fire Lizard Warriors paired with a small number of Fire Lizard Nobles for urban alley fighting.

This move baffled the command layer of the Wizard side.

Harash's elite strategy had been a major headache for the Wizards, forcing the command center to use Black Wizards for alley fighting, causing many White Wizards to be mere spectators.

This seriously slowed the pace of the war.

But now with the Fire Lizard Warriors, Black Wizards naturally broke free from alley fighting, and White Wizards finally returned to the familiar battlefield.

In just a year, White Wizards had successively conquered over seventy cities, and Black Wizards had started infiltrating the rear of Fire Lizard Empire, carrying out various harassment activities.

"Donar is useless!" Azuhan couldn't help but curse loudly as he looked at the map on the wall.

The loss of cities in the early stages of the war was due to the Wizards' forces being too concentrated, which the Fire Lizards couldn't resist. But as the battlefield gradually expanded, Wizards' forces also began to disperse, yet their pace of capturing cities showed no signs of slowing.

It was clearly a problem of command.

"Azhuan, I called you here to examine the map, not to hear you rant about Marshal Donar," Azuhan's tall father, Harash, draped in a white robe, looked imposing as he spoke.

"But father, I can't make out anything from this situation; we're constantly retreating! Our losses are also continuously increasing!" Azuhan turned around and shouted at his father.

As a young Fire Lizard, he was completely overwhelmed by the current state of the battle, his neck bulging like a pufferfish.

"Then look again. If you can't even discern this much, don't think about joining the army. You'd only be going to your death on the battlefield."

Harash's voice remained unchanged in spite of Azuhan's anger; he was calm and even leisurely poured himself a cup of lava to savor, as if the invaded country wasn't Morick.

Azhuan angrily turned away, striving to calm himself down.

He knew his father never spoke nonsense; if he said not to join the army, then entering the army was out of the question.

Looking at the map before him, Azuhan's heart began to settle, his reason taking the high ground, and he started to analyze the information the map provided.

From the frontline, Wizards had invaded nearly one-sixth of Morick Empire's territory in just a year and a half, and the front was still advancing.

Moreover, there was no salient on this line that would allow Fire Lizards to penetrate and encircle.

After a long look, Azuhan saw no opportunities that could be exploited from this line.

The Wizard's front, like a copper wall and iron barrier, had all possible seeming vulnerabilities, all traps.

"Father, I still can't see it," Azuhan said somewhat despondently, "the Wizard's line is too solid, I can't find any point to exploit."

Harash nodded, "Keep looking, the fact that you can tell the line is solid shows much growth. But I'm not asking you just to look at the line; broaden your view."

Broaden the view?

Azhuan re-examined the map, Harash's words echoing in his mind.

Zoom out a bit...

Azhuan took a step back, extending his gaze over the entire map.

The place where Wizards first appeared lay at one edge of the continent, and not far behind them, beyond some mountains, stretched the boundless Sea of Lava.

Thus, Wizards could only advance forward.

And since it was a protrusion, Wizards now only bordered the Morick Empire...

In an instant, he understood his father's point.

Azhuan excitedly exclaimed, "I see it now, the Wizards will soon border the Linksa Empire! Marshal Donar is guiding the Wizards to start a war with Linksa Empire!"

Upon hearing his son's response, Harash finally nodded in satisfaction.

"Correct, Donar is indeed guiding the Wizards to war with Linksa Empire, but have you considered his purpose?"

"His purpose? Surely it's to divide the Wizard's forces," said Azuhan naively.

"Dividing the forces is part of it, but there's a more important aspect."

Harash walked up to the map, pointing at the next city Wizards were set to conquer. After taking this city, Wizards would officially border the Linksa Empire.

"The losses of this war can't all be borne by us, the other two empires must also bleed.

Only then, after the war, will the continental situation remain balanced. Otherwise, even if we expel the Wizards, internal conflicts due to loss of power may lead to war.

If one empire suffers too many losses, its downfall wouldn't be out of the question.

This is what I wanted you to understand."

Azhuan looked at his father, his mind somewhat muddled.

At this point, why are the empires still plotting against each other?

Wizards only have two methods for dealing with Fire Lizards: enslavement or death. Shouldn't the Three Great Empires unite at this time to drive out the Wizards first?

Harash, as if understanding what Azuhan was thinking, said solemnly,

"Azhuan, Wizards are harmful, but if used properly, they can also be a blade, a blade to unify the world.

Our emperor thinks this way, and so do the other two emperors."