Wizard: I can refine all things.

Chapter 94 The Apprentice War (Part Twelve)

"Isn't the war going too fast, Qing Shuang?" The Black Tower Archmage looked at the glass dome in front of him. Inside the dome was the secret realm where Richard and his group were located, and he could see clearly every move of all the apprentices.

The great wizard known as Frost by the Black Tower sat opposite him. He was an ice man, his entire body composed of a pale blue ice.

"That's indeed a bit too fast." Grand Wizard Qing Shuang exhaled a breath of cold air. "It's only the first day, and all three battlefields are already in complete chaos."

"But the effect still looks pretty good." Beside the Frost Wizard, a cloaked, dazzling light emitted mental fluctuations—he was the Aurora Wizard.

"Indeed, it's quite impressive. We've already begun to have the capability for legion warfare," said a middle-aged man draped in a cloak. His mouth and eyes were stitched together by danger, making him look rather frightening—he was the Guardian Archmage.

"The rules need to be changed, otherwise we won't be able to fight," said a deep energy draped in a wizard's robe. "Once the white wizard legion fully adapts, the black wizards will have no chance of winning."

In the first Apprentice War, even the great wizards made some minor mistakes.

They originally planned the war to last about a year, with various reconnaissance, advances, and clashes planned, but as it stands now, the wizard apprentices don't need any of that.

If the fighting continues at this intensity, the war will be over in two more days.

They are so far removed from the apprenticeship that they have somewhat forgotten how limited the apprenticeship skills were.

"There's no need to rush, Void," said a great wizard who, like the Black Tower Great Wizard, appeared as a normal human. "Don't forget, the number of apprentices is also a victory condition."

"But this is still at our disadvantage," the Black Tower Archmage continued. "According to the simulation of the dimensional battlefield, the Black Wizards occupy the positions of the native strongmen, and their numbers should be greater than those of the White Wizards. The White Wizards should rely on their advantage in legion warfare to gradually crush them."

But now it's the other way around. When have we ever encountered a war during our planar conquests where there were more wizards than natives?

"Speak plainly, Black Tower," said Grand Wizard Qing Shuang calmly.

The Black Tower Wizard let out two eerie laughs:

"Qing Shuang, this time you're the ones who benefited. We little guys were just there to be your whetstones. Shouldn't you show some appreciation?"

"Black Tower, you still love to take advantage of others." Grand Wizard Qing Shuang's tone was tinged with helplessness. "How about one win? If the Black Wizard wins one match, you all win."

After saying that, he looked at the two great wizards, Void and Annihilation.

"agree."

"agree."

Both great wizards agreed to the rule change.

"Aurora, Guardian, where are you two?" The Black Tower Archmage looked at the remaining two Archmages of the White Wizard camp.

The two great wizards exchanged a mental message and agreed to the rule change.

The Black Tower Grand Wizard clapped his hands, and a scroll imbued with a mysterious aura appeared out of thin air. The Black Tower Grand Wizard drew two lines on it with his finger, and the contents on it instantly changed.

"The contract has been revised, let's continue."

……

Inside the public resource point, the Black Wizard Apprentices also tallied their casualties. The Void Academy suffered greater losses in the night raid, reaching approximately 120 people, while the Annihilation Academy suffered fewer losses thanks to the help of Aldor's undead puppets.

After the statistical results were released, the leaders of the three colleges gathered in the conference room to discuss the next steps.

"Gentlemen, I think we need to adjust our strategy." Richard sat in his chair, tapping his fingers slowly on the table.

On either side of him, Anderson of the Void Academy and Aldor of the Annihilation Academy remained silent.

"How did you know we were under siege?" Aldo suddenly asked. "You arrived at just the right time. Even if I sent someone to ask for help, it would have been impossible."

"How did you know?"

Richard smiled and snapped his fingers. Wuni flew in through the window and landed safely on Richard's shoulder.

"Don't you two have any ideas about magical pets?"

Anderson and Aldo were taken aback, and then a chill ran through them.

They really hadn't expected the magical pets.

Judging from Richard's demeanor, this magical creature had been watching them for who knows how long, and their night raid was probably even under Richard's surveillance.

"Fellowships..." Anderson paused, "That is indeed a blind spot."

The secret realm is full of magical beasts and the like, and few people would notice a crow landing on a branch.

"The White Wizard Apprentices probably haven't found out either, which is a good thing for us," Aldo said in a deep voice.

"It's only a matter of time before they're discovered." Richard shook his head. "The White Wizarding Academy should have taught them about scouting magical creatures. It won't be long before they realize something is watching them."

"What do you mean by changing the strategy?" Anderson suddenly asked.

"The White Wizard Apprentices are growing too fast. If we want to win this war, we must play to our strengths." A glint of light flashed in Richard's eyes. "We should abandon the strategy of capturing resource points to achieve victory and instead focus on killing as many White Wizard Apprentices as possible."

Reducing the number of troops to less than half is also a way to win.

"We are well aware of that," Aldo retorted, "but exchanging casualties with the White Wizard Legion seems like we're at a disadvantage."

Richard smiled calmly upon hearing this: "Who said we were going to fight head-on?"

"Um?"

Anderson and Aldo exchanged a glance, somewhat puzzled as to what Richard was really up to.

"Gentlemen, we are not wizards. Although we are stronger than ordinary people, we still need to eat and drink," Richard said slowly. "White wizard apprentices can solve their drinking water problem with magic circles, but they can't conjure food out of thin air."

Given the level of idiocy among these white wizard apprentices, they probably wouldn't bring much dry rations.

Therefore, going out to forage for food is essential.

Richard didn't say the rest, but Anderson and Aldo already understood what he meant.

If the white wizard apprentices go out to gather food, they can take the opportunity to attack.

But Anderson found a problem.

"But what if they don't delay? What if they choose to concentrate their apprentices and take our resource points as soon as possible? What will we do then?"

"They'll definitely hold out for a while," Richard shook his head. "And some of them haven't seen a battlefield before. If we attack rashly and they collapse, wouldn't we just win outright?"

"Besides," Richard pulled a magic stone from his pocket, "they need to replenish their magic stones, don't they?"

Because of the large number of apprentices at the White Wizard Academy, most of them, except for a few top apprentices, have far fewer magic stones than the Black Wizard apprentices.

This also resulted in many white wizard apprentices running out of magic stones after a day and a night of intense fighting.

"That makes sense. What are you planning to do?"

Anderson looked at Richard.

Even though this apprentice and he were both apprentice leaders, Richard always gave him a feeling of being unfathomable.

This feeling doesn't come from strength, but rather from a kind of intellectual suppression.

"It's simple," Richard clapped his hands, "We'll just garrison two resource points, and let the White Wizard take over the rest."

Then we'll divide some of our elite apprentices into small teams to harass any White Wizard apprentices venturing out from the outskirts of the White Wizard resource point. We'll kill as many White Wizard apprentices as possible.

The two apprentice leaders thought for a moment and immediately realized that this was indeed a good idea.

Elite apprentices represent the ability to quickly end battles and escape the battlefield during pursuit.

"I agree."

I agree.

Richard stood up. "Since you both agree, let's begin."

……

As Richard had predicted, the apprentices from the Frost and Aurora families did not make any major moves after their return. Meanwhile, the Guardian Academy, due to the depletion of magic stones, also began to hold its ground, with only small teams of white wizards venturing out of the resource points each day to hunt for food.

A wizard's apprentice is not a wizard yet, and cannot maintain his body with magic like a wizard.

Therefore, food and water remain essential for the survival of wizard apprentices.

While the white wizard team hunted for food, the black wizards naturally wouldn't be idle either.

The three academies belonging to the dark wizard faction selected ten elite dark wizard squads, each consisting of five members and apprentices from the five schools of thought to handle various situations. These individuals were dispatched to hunt down white wizard apprentices who ventured out of white wizard resource points.

The remaining dark wizards began constructing fortifications.

Due to the heavy losses suffered by the two Void Annihilation academies, they decided to join forces to defend a resource point, while the Black Tower Wizarding Academy would defend a resource point on its own.

Thus began a brief stalemate between the black and white wizards.

……

"Run! Alyssa!" a white wizard apprentice roared, turning to pounce on the black wizard apprentice who was attacking him. As he lunged forward, his body rapidly grew larger, transforming in an instant into a strong, hairy orc.

Clearly, this is a bloodline alchemy apprentice.

Opposite him, five dark wizard apprentices coordinated perfectly to create distance, then unleashed three elemental spells upon him. The remaining two apprentices, one pointing at the fleeing white wizard apprentice, conjured black chains that parasitically bound him. The other swiftly followed up with an elemental spell.

After the hunt was complete, the black wizard apprentice skillfully looted the white wizard apprentice's corpse and then set up a magic trap under the body.

"Alright," the apprentice who was setting up the magic trap whispered.

Having said that, the five black wizard apprentices silently disappeared into the dense forest.

Soon after, a group of white wizard apprentices found the place.

"Damn it, those bastards got away again!" the leading white wizard apprentice cursed, and the white wizard apprentices behind him were also full of anger.

This is the fifth attack by a dark wizard this month.

"Captain, no trace found," a white wizard apprentice reported.

"Damn it, collect the body, take it back."

Just as the white wizard apprentice was moving the corpse, the black wizard's magic circle trap was triggered, and the explosive fire elemental spell instantly turned the nearest apprentice into pieces.

"Evan!" The captain's eyes widened in horror as he frantically unleashed spells into the surrounding dense forest.

But by this time, the dark wizard squad had already gone far away, and no matter how much he vented, it was to no avail.

……

"This is the fifth attack by a dark wizard." Bartos handed a piece of paper to Orei. "This time, the dark wizard left a trap on the corpse, which resulted in the death of one of the search team members."

"Okay, I understand." O'Reilly took the manuscript, glanced at it, and rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.

"Is this what war is?" Bartos sat down next to Orei, his heart churning with turmoil.

In their pursuit of victory, the dark wizard apprentices would indiscriminately lay traps on the corpses of their own kind, a practice that Bartos found hard to accept.

There should be some bottom lines in war.

"Yes, that's war," O'Reilly chimed in. "The goal of war is victory, and to achieve that goal, we should stop at nothing."

"That makes sense, but I still can't quite accept it." Bartos sighed, as if he wanted to vent all the frustration in his heart.

"We're all apprentices, we're all human beings, why do we have to do something so... despicable?"

"Despicable?" Ore sneered. "Bartos, you're too naive."

What do you think this war is for? What are we simulating?

This war is to simulate a dimensional battlefield, where the methods of those alien monsters will be a hundred times more despicable and brutal! They will slaughter wizards without any conscience and then use our corpses as snacks.

If you can't even accept these things, how will you cope when you're on the battlefield? Will you apply to be transferred to the rear and do logistics for the rest of your life?

As a descendant of a wizarding family, Ore had learned of the cruelty of interdimensional wars from his elders.

On those brutal battlefields, these wizards, selected through rigorous processes, died in droves, just like ordinary soldiers. That is to say, even the greatest wizards could perish.

Those alien monsters have countless tricks up their sleeves, and sometimes even death becomes a luxury for wizards who fall into their hands.

This is nothing more than using corpses to set traps; we've only just begun.

Bartos was speechless and changed the subject to countermeasures.

"This can't go on. We have to find a way to deal with these dark wizards."

"A solution..." Ore thought for a moment and said, "I have a suggestion: let the people who go out to gather food gather together each time, instead of spreading out, and gather in small groups."

Bartos frowned: "Doing it this way is too inefficient; we won't have enough food."

"Not enough?" O'Lee smiled coldly. "These are special times, and we should use special methods."

Collect all the food from the entire camp and distribute it to each person at fixed times and in fixed quantities every day. Just make sure no one starves.

Please be patient during this special time.

"Where's the captain?" Bartos asked.

"Captain?" Ore chuckled. "Even I have to be rationed, how could the captain be higher than me?"

(End of this chapter)