Wizard: I can refine all things.

Chapter 26 Shifting the Blame Eastward (Please continue reading)

"What is that?!"

Richard drew his greatsword, his breathing becoming erratic. Behind him, Ellie pulled a wand from her luggage, its magical glint flickering.

"Don't touch me, it's me! Loken!"

The blood-red figure wiped its cheek, revealing a kind, chubby face.

"Loken? Didn't you team up with someone? How did you end up like this?"

After saying that, Richard secretly winked at Ellie, who, as if on cue, moved to Richard's luggage and took the fireball staff.

Something was wrong with Loken; it seemed like something was chasing him.

Several more sounds came from the dense forest, which sounded like the sound of magic missiles.

Loken's expression changed, and a glint of light flashed from his boots.

"It's a long story, let's talk about it later."

Then the fat man moved like the wind, disappearing into the woods in an instant, and finally shouted at Richard:

"We've got the stuff, let's split up and run!"

Even Richard, if he were stupid, would realize he'd been tricked.

"Friend, I have nothing to do with that person!"

Richard roared through the forest, his heart pumping out streams of heat. His magic was rapidly depleting, replaced by scales that grew on his body. In just a breath or two, he was covered in black scales.

Several voices came from the woods, but the language was not the wizard's language. Then Richard heard a voice.

hum!

A buzzing sound reached Richard's ears. Without thinking, he swung his sword, the blade striking a streak of blue light. Behind the light, several magic missiles tore through the force field barrier of his wizard's robes, hitting Richard's body squarely. Before his bloodline alchemy, these missiles would have been enough to kill Richard, but now, Richard only grunted and turned to shout at Ellie.

"Let's do it!"

Ellie swung her staff, and magic flowed through the staff and into its head, instantly transforming into a deadly spell.

The orange-red fireball crashed into the dense forest like a meteor, bursting into a towering burst of flames.

boom!

A surging wave of air, carrying earth and rocks, rushed toward Richard, but protected by the black scales, these aftershocks had little effect on him.

"Are they all dead?" Ellie asked, her voice trembling.

This was the first time Ellie had ever seen a Lesser Fireball spell. The crimson flames and thunderous sound made it seem like a divine punishment from legend.

The gods punished the sinners by sending down thunder and fire.

Flames began to ignite in the forest, an unavoidable consequence of using the fireball spell.

Richard stared intently into the fire; he had a premonition that someone was still alive.

Ugh!

A figure rose from the fire, accompanied by a raging wind—a wind summoned by magic.

The wind fanned the flames, and what was originally a small fire quickly expanded under the strong winds.

Richard took a step forward and instantly rushed into the fire.

The scalding air rushed through Richard's lungs, like flowing embers burning his trachea.

But Richard paid no attention; his eyes were only on the figure that had summoned the storm.

Finally, Richard rushed to the figure, but all he saw was a person charred black beyond recognition. Driven by intense hatred, the person rose from the flames and unleashed a final spell.

"I'll send that bastard down to keep you company."

Richard swung his sword and beheaded him.

The raging winds summoned by the spell stopped instantly, but the wildfire had already become uncontrollable.

"Loken..." Richard gritted his teeth.

All of this was caused by Loken's attempt to shift blame before leaving.

Back at the camp, Ellie was covering her mouth and nose, trying to rush out of the fire.

"Hold me tight," Richard said in a deep voice as he pulled Ellie into his arms.

"Um."

Richard picked up Ellie and rushed straight into the fire. Relying on his amazing physique and the protection of his scales, Richard actually managed to carve a path through the flames.

"My lord wizard, come this way!"

As soon as Richard emerged from the fire, he saw old John waving at him from afar.

This old tour guide doesn't seem to have given up on his client.

When Richard came to Old John's side, he saw a small river.

"Wizard, let's hide in this river. The fire will go out soon," Old John called out.

"Extinguished? How did you put out that fire?"

As Richard surveyed the ever-expanding fire, he thought to himself that in his previous life, such a scene would probably have required digging firebreaks and deploying helicopters to resolve the situation.

"Heh heh, it seems the wizard is still unaware of the rules of Blackrock Mountain." Old John watched the fire spread and then jumped into the water with a splash.

"Our Blackrock Mountains have a guardian deity."

No sooner said than done, Richard heard a roar that echoed through the forest.

A massive figure flew out from the depths of the Blackrock Mountains. The figure had three snake-like heads, broad bat wings on its back, and its entire body was covered in scales.

"That's... a dragon!?" Richard's voice trembled.

The monster flew onto the fire, and its three heads opened their blood-red maws and sucked in the flames. In an instant, the flames of the entire fire transformed into three torrents that continuously flowed into the monster's mouth.

"What...what is it doing?"

Old John stroked his beard: "What else can we do but put out the fire? According to you wizards, the guardian spirit is currently absorbing the fire element from the fire."

"Fire element?" Richard murmured, his eyes glazed over.

In the wizarding worldview, the most primitive state of matter is not atoms, electrons, quarks, or the like, but rather the four elements of earth, wind, water, and fire.

All matter is composed of four elements.

In the wizarding worldview, flames are the embodiment of the fire element, and burning is the release of the fire element from matter.

The flames took the giant beast more than ten minutes to extinguish. After the flames disappeared, the giant beast flapped its wings and returned to the depths of the mountains.

"Alright, wizard. Let's go back. If we're lucky, maybe what I baked will still be edible."

Old John emerged from the water and wrung out his clothes.

"Old John, will you keep track of her?" Richard put Ellie down, his eyes burning with hatred.

"Tracking? Of course Old John can do that." Old John said with some pride, "I'm not bragging, but no one in this forest can disappear from Old John's sight."

"That's good." Richard nodded and turned to look at Ellie. Although Richard had protected most of Ellie's body when they came out, some minor burns were inevitable.

"How does it feel?"

Ellie rubbed her head. "I'm a little thirsty. Are you going to kill that fat guy?"

"Yes." Richard nodded. "You're going to stop me?"

"How could that be?" Ellie rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not crazy. This fat guy has caused us so much trouble. Killing him later would be too good for him."

"That's good."

Richard breathed a sigh of relief. If Ellie had become a saint, he might have lost a friend.

A hint of hatred flashed across Ellie's face; the fire seemed to have stirred up dark memories of her entrance exams.

"Take me with you when you kill him later. I just learned a curse spell, and I can practice on that fat guy."

"A curse spell?" Richard exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't get me wrong! I'm not going to curse anyone!" Ellie hurriedly explained. "You don't come out much, so you don't know, there have been several curse-murders among the freshmen recently."

"I learned it so that I could protect myself if someone cursed me."

Richard remained silent, and Ellie grew increasingly impatient.

"Believe me! I really did it to protect myself!"

"Yes, I know you didn't intend to kill anyone." Richard nodded, then looked at Ellie with a surprised expression.

"Ellie, do you know that curse spells aren't learned by people, but rather the spells choose their users? Without what the curse school calls 'spirituality,' even if you obtain the spell's model, you can't use it."

"Ah?" Ellie exclaimed in alarm, "Then all my magic stones were wasted!"

Those were fifteen magic stones, all her savings.

"I also learned it from a book," Richard said thoughtfully.

The School of Curses has always been the most mysterious and smallest of the five major schools. Their magic appears absurd and unrestrained, yet it can kill without leaving a trace. Legend has it that the Truth Wizard of the School of Curses once cursed an entire world to death with a single spell.

"The talent of a cursed wizard is very rare. I hope you don't waste your magic stones, Ellie." Richard smiled and then called over Old John.

"Old John, let's go! I'm going to kill that fat man today!"

……

The edge of a valley not far from the fire.

"Judging from this commotion, those people should all be dead." Loken muttered to himself as he watched the guardian spirit fly back into the depths of the mountains. "Those two were quite formidable; they managed to cause such a commotion that even the guardian spirit had to be mobilized."

But then he laughed triumphantly, rubbed his hands together, and pulled out a notebook with a cover still covered in dirt from his pocket.

"But no matter how capable he is, he still became my scapegoat."

"A senior apprentice's notes, written in wizarding script. It would be an absolute crime for me not to steal such a valuable item."

Thank you Wu Jun Luo Hou for the two monthly tickets! (。ω。)

(End of this chapter)