Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Within the dense forest, all was calm.

A black crow darted through the woods, like a streak of black lightning. Behind it, besides a dark-robed wizard closely trailing its steps, the remainder was a tide of vines.

Boom!

The wizard casually hurled a fireball, blasting the encroaching vines apart. The flames, hot enough to melt steel, spread rapidly along the vines, looking as if they might transform the entire ocean of vines into a sea of fire.

But strangely, although the flames spread, the fire that should have been raging due to the vines kept diminishing in the process.

It was as if an invisible giant mouth was gobbling it up.

The wizard, catching sight of this scene, couldn't help but frown deeply. He thought to himself, "What kind of monstrosity did the Pioneer create?"

The wizard was Richard, and ever since he entered this jungle untouched by the White Wizard Army and unscathed by their spells, he felt as though he had entered the belly of a huge creature.

Everything around him was fighting against him.

Snap!

Richard swatted and smashed a bug trying to stick to him with an easy slap.

He had been in this jungle for half a day, and during this time, apart from the chasing tide of vines, the most he saw was bugs—bugs of every kind.

From alien mosquitoes the size of a thumb to deadly poisonous beetles as big as a fist, and even sky-centipedes the size of toxic snakes.

Each insect was filled with deadly poison and had a strong set of mouthparts.

When Richard first entered the jungle, he thought the scales on his body might protect him from the bugs.

But after seeing the dense acid digestive fluid spewed from the mouthparts of the alien mosquitoes and a palm-sized longhorn beetle biting through his scales, Richard figured it would be better to take action.

After all, most of the creatures in this place were likely biological weapons left behind by the Pioneer of yore, and underestimating them would only harm himself.

Third-level creatures were nothing of significance in the eyes of the Pioneer.

"Ulysses, how much further?" Richard shouted to the front.

"Caw, at this pace, half a day more and we'll be there."

Hearing the response, Richard couldn't help but sigh. Glancing back at the vines that had completely devoured the flames and were ready to ensnare once more, he lightly waved his magic wand.

The next moment, an invisible qi current wrapped around him, and his speed surged instantaneously.

"Forget it, let's just find the place first."

...

Richard was not the only one who had entered the dense forest.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning, thick as a water bucket, cleaved down, causing the leaves and branches in the forest to tremor violently.

"What a wicked thing, how much did the Lost Ones tinker with this?"

After the lightning dissipated, an iron-gray figure with a giant hammer wand appeared, still wrapped in faint lightning. With a slight movement, one could see electric arcs leaping through the air.

Not far in front of him, a small old tree surged with lightning between its branches and trunk.

Clearly, that bolt of lightning had come from the old tree.

Seeing that it wasn't killed in one hit, the old tree's branches and trunk flashed with electricity, seemingly brewing another thunder strike.

But Stio only sneered viciously, and in the next instant, a gigantic black hand emerged from beneath the tree, uprooting it entirely.

Upon closer inspection, the black hand was composed of numerous fused-together grains of iron sand.

Once removed from the ground, the old tree was like a fish out of water, quickly becoming motionless.

Stio casually opened a Secret Realm Rift and tossed the old tree in, then took out a Communication Crystal Ball from his pocket.

Seeing that the direction on the Communication Crystal Ball was still changing, his brows furrowed slightly:

"It's still moving, just how extensive is that thing?"

Meanwhile, almost every Three Rings Wizard who entered the jungle encountered trouble.

Some met with swathes of Carnivorous Plants, with huge mouthparts hidden under dense shrubs, each capable of secreting digestive fluid that could dissolve metal.

Some encountered attacking plants covered in spikes, which would shoot out at any creature that approached, using them to hunt.

These spikes had formidable power, each with the strength of a thousand Energy Levels. Moreover, if the prey did not die, the plants would even concentrate fire.

In addition, there were hanging trees that could strangle Second Ring wizards, the Poison Mist Trees that could spray dense poisonous fog, the zombie mushrooms that sprayed bewildering spores... and that was not all.

Apart from plants, some wizards met with giant centipedes as large as pythons—one puff of their venomous breath could dissolve an Energy Shield capable of resisting spells of five thousand Energy Levels. Others met with huge spiders that covered an entire forest area in webs;

There were swarms of poisonous bees, each capable of killing Level 1 Creatures; energy-sucking mosquitoes that could drain a Magic Barrier; unknown poisonous insects that could make third-level creatures dizzy with a single bite...

Almost all Three Rings wizards were grateful that it was they who came.

Had it been wizards of One or Second Rings, no number of them would have been adequate.

This place was simply a green Hell, filled with life-threatening entities everywhere, even the grass on the ground could bite you.

...

Richard kept advancing through the dense forest, following Ulysses.

"Once we cross the lake up ahead, we'll be there."

"A lake?"

Richard was puzzled, and the next moment, his spiritual power passed through the dense jungle to an open area.

A lake shimmering like an emerald appeared in his spiritual power.

"No, how could there be a lake here?"

There were no mountains or rivers in the area, so a lake seemed out of place.

The next instant, Richard felt a pain in his head, and his outward-directed spiritual power involuntarily withdrew.

Someone had attacked him with spiritual power.

Before he could react, a sharp crackling of snapped twigs and branches came from the forest, and a black creature resembling a spider with three scorpion-like tails burst out. It was a peak third-level creature in terms of strength.

"Ulysses!" Richard called out harshly.

Although he confidently felt he could handle the insect himself, this place was hardly worth lingering in.

The sooner the mission was completed, the sooner he could leave this damned place.

The most suitable technique for handling this forest was the Magic Concentrated Fire of the White Wizard Army.

Regardless of whether it was carnivorous plants or venomous insects, he wanted them all blasted to ash.

But Ulysses's response startled him.

"Handle it yourself; if you can't, then escape into the Secret Realm. I've run into trouble myself."

Hearing Ulysses's reply, Richard immediately thought of the previous incident.

Without any doubt, Ulysses must be fighting the creature that had launched a soul attack against him.

"Forget it, consider this a test of my training," Richard muttered under his breath.

As he spoke, magic power surged within Richard's body, and his aura suddenly became as towering and unshakable as a mountain.

The attacking creature saw the change in Richard and instantly fixed its compound eyes on his figure.

In the creature's eyes, Richard's movements slowed down, allowing it to capture every detail clearly, while its deep-seated instincts found a flaw in Richard's actions.

The next moment, the creature's scorpion tail fiercely lashed out with a purple venomous tip aiming straight for Richard's left ribs.

A sting like that could cause more than just a severe injury; the venom alone could spell trouble for Richard.

But Richard remained calm and collected. Despite the strike targeting his flaw, ten years of training were not spent in vain.

He sidestepped smoothly, lightly patting the scorpion tail with his left hand to dodge the lightning-fast strike.

Immediately afterward, Richard's body surged with magic power, and he vanished from sight.

The creature's compound eyes swiveled, quickly locking onto the now-invisible Richard.

Richard had already positioned himself behind the creature, ready to deliver a punch that would end its life. But before he could act, the three scorpion tails lashed at him like lightning.

Clang, clang, clang!

A layer of golden light embellished with runes appeared on Richard, easily deflecting the incoming stinger attack.

This glow was the Refined Gold Arm of Changshan Temple, which made one's arms as hard as pure gold. After mastering it, Richard had used his knowledge as a Wizard to reconstruct the original version, transforming the technique into what he now called the Vajra Body.

Seeing its tails make no impact, the creature's body began to violently shake, seemingly trying to dislodge Richard from its back.

Intense high-frequency vibrations from the exoskeleton entered Richard's body, and to his alarm, he discovered his energy circulation becoming chaotic under the tremors.

"No good, I must end this quickly!"

With a loud shout, Richard's right arm thundered down onto the carapace below with a punch.

"Ha!"

In the next instant, a Spiritual Shock caused the creature to cease trembling.

Then, a force as crushing as a mountain tearing through its carapace. The wild power instantly ground the creature's internal organs to a pulp.

Boom!

The creature's body slammed to the ground, and its internal energy circulation began to rapidly weaken.

Richard exhaled a long breath, "Phew, it's over."

With that, he intended to collect the creature's corpse into the Secret Realm to make a specimen.

But before he could act, a loud explosion rang out behind him.

Clang!

Richard's body was blasted away like a cannonball. Behind him, the three scorpion tails seemed to enter a frenzy, violently attacking the surrounding environment.

"Cough, cough."

Richard spat out a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. Although at the last moment, he had managed to use the Vajra Body, the tails' immense force still caused him internal injuries due to his rushed defense.

But at that moment, his face showed no anger or panic; on the contrary, he was extremely excited.

Richard licked his lips greedily as he gazed at the corpse of the creature.

"Symbiotic... such a fine thing."

Symbiotics were a branch of the Alchemy School's Synthetic Beast technique. This technology allowed multiple Synthetic Beasts to come together to form a single, more powerful and well-rounded Synthetic Beast.

And now, the spider's body was almost dead, yet its tails continued to attack relentlessly, without any decrease in attack power.

This was beyond the scope of autotomy or nerve reflexes.

Moreover, and most importantly, Richard saw a complete set of energy circulation in the tails through his Energy Vision.

"Such a complex energy circulation; this creature's technical content isn't simple," Richard murmured to himself as he looked at the tails, "And this energy circulation... why does it seem like it was deliberately designed?"