The Black Tower Wizard Academy is located in a hilly area, with rolling hills that seem to stretch endlessly.
However, due to the season, the hills are covered only with dry yellow grass and withered shrubs, with rare green plants.
The trees among the hills are mostly a golden hue.
Looking at this terrain, Richard immediately decided to release his Dragon Beast.
At this moment, flying in the sky would be like being a live target.
Most Wizards prefer not to touch the ground, and this terrain is quite suitable for aerial reconnaissance, making it easy to collide head-on with the Wizards from the Falling Star Academy.
Opening the Synthetic Beast Pocket, Richard promptly released the majestic Dragon Beast.
The Dragon Beast resembles a horse but has a fierce and imposing dragon head. Its body is incredibly robust, standing two meters tall at the shoulder. Its muscles are well-developed, especially its powerful back and four pillar-like legs.
Its skin is covered with a layer of black scales, which do not reflect sunlight, exuding a deep darkness.
After being released, the Dragon Beast did not show the joy of newfound freedom; on the contrary, its golden Dragon Eyes turned to Richard the moment they opened.
Creating a Dragon Beast requires the blood of a Fire Lizard, and normally, whoever's blood is used would own the Dragon Beast.
But Richard is clearly not a Fire Lizard.
So Jolod thoughtfully modified the Dragon Beast.
Jolod implanted a Control Tumor in the Dragon Beast's brain, which can interfere with its judgment, causing it to mistakenly regard Richard as its master.
Moreover, Jolod also added neural connection ports along the Dragon Beast's spine.
If Richard were willing to modify himself or install a Biological Magic Gear on his tailbone, he could even skip the need to cultivate feelings, directly achieving a man-beast unity through the neural connection.
The Dragon Beast looked at Richard in front of it and tentatively called out.
"Roar?"
Richard stepped forward, patted its head, and then pulled out a large piece of Flame Giant Beast Jerky from his pocket.
Upon seeing the jerky, the Dragon Beast's eyes lit up, and its call became much more cheerful.
Richard fed it the jerky, which was the size of an adult's arm, and the Dragon Beast devoured it in just a few bites.
Richard patted the Dragon Beast's head, and it did not resist.
This indicated that the Dragon Beast had acknowledged him.
Richard took out another piece of jerky of the same size and, with a small jump, leaped onto the Dragon Beast's back.
Jolod had thoughtfully prepared a saddle and reins for Richard, but he did not need these things.
He patted the Dragon Beast's neck and uttered a sound that might be harsh to an ordinary person.
"Gah!"
Upon hearing this sound, the Dragon Beast, which was chewing on the jerky, suddenly raised its head. Its muscles began to move, flowing smoothly like water.
Its sturdy, pillar-like legs started to bend, leaving deep hoof prints on the ground.
"Roar!"
The Dragon Beast responded and then charged forward like an avalanche.
Richard sat on the Dragon Beast's back, nodding in satisfaction.
The sound he just uttered came from the Dragon Language. Richard originally did not know this sound, but some of his Fire Lizard subordinates had fought against the Dragon Beast Knight Order.
From them, Richard learned that the Dragon Beast Knights had their own exclusive language for controlling Dragon Beasts.
Richard had them mimic those languages and then found a dictionary of Dragon Language in the Wizard World.
As Richard expected, the languages of the Dragon Beast Knights all originated from ancient Dragon Language.
With the help of the dictionary and the Fire Lizard's practice, Richard quickly developed a set of commands for controlling the Dragon Beast. Unfortunately, at that time, the Dragon Beast had not yet been fully optimized, and Richard had not had the chance to test it.
Now it seemed that his set of commands should be useful.
Richard then took out a Spell Scroll from his pocket and tore it open.
The spell recorded on this scroll was called the Existence Fading Curse Spell, which could reduce the user's presence.
It could even allow the user to blend into a group of ten people, and no matter how others counted, they would only find ten individuals.
Compared to optical invisibility, the advantage of this spell is that it can deceive even mental probing.
However, although this spell sounds suitable for hiding, in the school of curses, it is actually a cruel combat spell.
Because this spell can make the target's existence completely disappear, leading to a strange state in the end.
The target is still alive but cannot interact with anything in the world.
They cannot attract energy, cannot eat, everything is pitch black before their eyes, silence in their ears, and there is no sense of touch when they reach out.
When their mental energy spreads out, all they find is emptiness.
This is a loneliness comparable to the Darkness of the Soul.
Once trapped in this state, a Wizard faces only two paths: one is suicide, and the other is to live until the caster dies.
Once the caster dies, the effect of this spell will disappear.
However, the one Richard had was a lightweight version of Existence Fading; the power stored in this scroll could make a Wizard Apprentice completely disappear, but for Richard, a second-ring Wizard, it could at most allow him to evade a careless mental probe from another Wizard.
...
On the other side of the battlefield, opposite the Black Tower Wizard Academy.
The Falling Star Academy was executing their plan.
In the center of the Falling Star Academy, a crimson tower was radiating a scorching aura.
This was the Core Wizard Tower of the Falling Star Academy.
On the one hundred and fiftieth floor of the tower, all the Third Circle Wizards of the Falling Star Academy gathered together, and in front of them, countless light points were continuously spreading around the academy on a flat map projected from a Crystal Ball.
"What is this?" a Shaping Wizard, who had completely transformed into an Elemental Body, asked.
At the edge of the map, a Wizard wearing monocles, looking quite refined, responded to him.
"This is a map, and the light points represent our patrol teams. We don't know where the Black Tower Wizard Academy is, so we are temporarily relying on this method to locate them."
He was Crispin Stevens, one of the vice presidents of the Falling Star Academy and a student of the Falling Star Great Wizard.
"So what are we doing here?" a Wizard with eyes flashing like lightning asked. "Are we just sitting here?"
Crispin adjusted his glasses and calmly said, "We need to establish a stance; what is our ultimate goal? This war with the Black Tower Wizard Academy is entirely an accident.
The Wizards from the Black Tower Academy only need to defend, but we have much more to consider.
To what extent do we want to wage this war? Should we occupy their commercial area, their residential area, or their experimental area, or should we simply leave them with just a Core Wizard Tower?"
"What did the president say?" an old Wizard asked.
Crispin shrugged, speaking with a tone of resignation:
"The president told us to destroy the Core Wizard Tower of the Black Tower Academy, but that was clearly said in anger. Destroying the Core Wizard Tower would not benefit the president at all; it would only create another enemy for him.
I tried to contact him before the war, but I couldn't get through."
"Let's just leave the Core Wizard Tower," the old Wizard spoke again.
He was Zeke Herta, the vice president of the Falling Star Academy and a capable assistant to the Falling Star Great Wizard.
"After all, the president wants to save face. Leaving a Core Wizard Tower would make him look good, and we small fries wouldn't feel too bad either."
After saying this, Zeke looked around at all the Wizards present.
"What do you all think?"
The fire-element Wizard who had asked the question earlier replied first, "Sure."
The remaining Wizards thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
"I don't mind."
"Let's do it this way; call me when the fighting starts."
"I agree."
Seeing that all the Wizards were in agreement, Crispin clapped his hands and said:
"Then our goal is tentatively set to occupy all areas of the Black Tower Wizard Academy except for the Core Wizard Tower."
After saying this, he joked, "I hope the orders received on the other side are to defend the Core Wizard Tower; that way, it would save trouble for both sides."
...
Watching the Wizards flying overhead, Richard stood in the forest, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
When these Wizards flew over his head, Richard didn't even feel their mental energy.
It was clear they were inexperienced soldiers who had never been on the battlefield.
Any Wizard who had been in battle would maintain a high level of mental energy diffusion during reconnaissance, and would also focus a significant portion of their attention on the ground.
Bloody lessons have taught Wizards that if you don't scout the ground, you better have enough means to save your life.
The natives won't go easy on you just because you're a novice.
Richard took out his staff, but it was not the Mithril Staff; it was his own Adamantine Staff.
Richard also took out the Nomi Quiet Crystal Stone and replaced the tip of the Adamantine Staff. After the change, the staff's enhancement of spell power sharply decreased.
But at this moment, pursuing power was actually useless.
A five-hundred-level fireball and a thousand-level fireball could both kill the Wizards above, and using the Nomi Crystal Stone would reduce the spell's fluctuations.
After replacing the staff tip, Richard began to move slowly toward the direction the Wizards were flying from.
The Falling Star Academy did not know where the Black Tower Wizard Academy was, and naturally, the Black Tower Wizard Academy did not know where the Falling Star Academy was.
Originally, Richard planned to scout a bit, but now it was no longer necessary.
As Richard headed toward the Falling Star Academy, several other second-ring Wizards noticed the Wizards scouting in the sky.
...
"Are they really not even scouting the ground?"
Anka looked at the Wizards flying overhead and couldn't help but shake his head.
As a seasoned Wizard, seeing these rookie Wizards so reckless, he felt a rare twinge of pity in his heart.
They were so inexperienced that it made him feel like he was bullying children.
"Forget it, I won't kill these rookies for now. The attack hasn't started yet; it wouldn't be good to provoke strong opponents."
With that, Anka's figure suddenly vanished, leaving only a trail of faint footprints that gradually faded.
...
Across the battlefield, the elite Wizards from the Black Tower Academy watched the Wizards flying overhead with cold smiles, sighs, or disdain.
But there were also some unfortunate ones who had gone in the opposite direction of the Falling Star Academy and had yet to encounter any Wizards.
However, they all shared one common point: they did not choose to fight.
All the Wizards tacitly chose to lurk, following the trail of these rookie Wizards toward the Falling Star Academy.
Their mission was to disrupt the enemy from behind, depleting the strength of the Falling Star Academy. At this point, the war had not yet begun.
Any Wizard who showed themselves would be seeking death.
Thus, the first day of the war passed in such a calm manner.
(End of Chapter)