Wizard: I Can Refine Everything

Today's Number Three Federation World remains calm.

"This is the Federation World where that Tide Spirit trade association is permanently stationed." Beside Richard, a member of the Mechanical Clan spoke respectfully.

Although Richard had already ordered Ulysses to investigate the matter in secret, as the visible investigator, he couldn't afford to do nothing.

He was like a candle in the night, conspicuous yet causing people to overlook the darkness around him.

"Looks quite nice," Richard flew up into the sky, looking at this strange world, and said with a mild surprise.

Since the Federation World is a co-existence of five races, each Federation World is an Elemental Balanced World. Furthermore, due to the differing preferences of the various races, the regions within the Federation World belonging to different races vary greatly in environment.

The vast continent was split in two; in the region of the Mechanical Clan, metal covered the ground. Enormous cold-colored factories operated day and night, and among the rumbling of machines, various "Alchemy" products were produced.

The area belonging to the Tree Spirit Clan was a series of forests where birds, beasts, insects, and fish thrived freely, appearing serene and natural.

The Tree Spirits grew around the World Tree; although their bodies were stationary, their minds roamed freely in a network unique to the Tree Spirits.

The Winged Clan occupied the sky, living on sky islands, while the Ghost Horror Clan lived underground; they disliked sunlight, and other races were not particularly fond of spending time with these "Ghouls."

Their target for this trip—the Tide Spirit Clan—lived in the ocean beyond the continent.

"Let's go, Moore, let's check out that trade association," Richard said to the Mechanical Clan member beside him.

The Mechanical Clan member referred to as Moore looked at Richard, seemingly hesitant to speak.

"...Sir, aren't you going to disguise yourself? We are going there to investigate, not to destroy that trade association."

"Investigate?"

Richard laughed twice, shook his head slightly, and said, "Moore, your understanding of the Civilization Devourer is still too shallow. Our trip there is both investigation and destruction.

Allowing such a thing to exist even a second longer is irresponsible for the safety of this world."

As he spoke, Richard casually waved his hand, and a force enveloped Moore.

In the next moment, the figures of the two disappeared beside the World Tree, reappearing over the endless ocean beside the continent.

The deep blue ocean stretched endlessly, and today there was no wind, making the sea appear calm.

Richard patted Moore next to him, snapping him out of the disorienting feeling from spatial teleportation.

"Moore, it's your time to shine. Go contact those Tide Spirits."

Moore's body trembled, and an ear-piercing sound of mechanical grinding emerged from within. Subsequently, Moore spewed out a shower of sparks from his mouth, appearing to be bits of iron scraps.

"Yes, sir, I'll go now."

Moore responded somewhat stiffly and then jumped from the sky into the endless ocean.

Richard watched Moore submerge into the water, his eyes flashing with contemplation.

"There's nothing wrong with this little fellow's body structure; no tampering has been done. But why do I always feel like someone is watching me?"

Moore was a member of the Mechanical Clan who had been lightly corrupted, but because the degree was slight and his strength considerable, he had been deputed by the Clan Leader to assist Richard.

But ever since Moore came to his side, Richard always felt like he was being watched.

Richard had great faith in his instincts; he didn't believe it was a hallucination caused by his nerves, yet he couldn't find the source of that feeling.

"Some new technology?" Richard speculated in his heart.

Not long after Moore entered the sea, he sent a Magic Power message to Richard.

"Sir, I'm in trouble."

Trouble?

Richard raised an eyebrow, and a wave of Magic Power immediately shot out from his body. Soon, the situation at the seabed appeared before his eyes.

"Hmm? So they're not even putting up a pretense?"

On the ocean floor, Moore was facing a siege from a group of Furnace Men.

Boom!

The weapon in the hands of a Furnace Man exploded with a roar, a violent shockwave directly clearing the water in front of the nozzle, briefly creating a vacuum on the ocean floor.

Seeing this, Moore withdrew, immediately transforming into a smooth metallic football shape.

The Mechanical Clan can almost be considered natural-born Alchemy Wizards, having no fixed form as each member adapts their shape to their working environment.

And Moore, being a soldier, was responsible for controlling thousands of mechanical puppets in attack or defense on the battlefield.

So his offensive capabilities didn't matter, but his defensive capabilities had to be strong.

The shockwave swept through the seawater, reaching Moore, and immediately, the smooth surface of his body showed creases as if paper had been crumpled.

Clearly, in the face of the Furnace Men's weapons, Moore's abilities were still insufficient.

However, this was enough.

An invisible domain suddenly enveloped the Furnace Men, who hadn't had a chance to react before being trapped by the surrounding seawater, turning into objects resembling amber.

"Well, they're not even pretending because there's no one around here in the deep sea, huh."

Richard's gaze passed over the Furnace Men before him, noticing behind them the undersea city originally belonging to the Tide Spirits, now filled with buildings constructed by the Furnace Men.

These Furnace Men buildings were pitch black, with dark red veins resembling blood vessels visible within. Beneath them, the corruption had spread to the seabed. And if Richard wasn't mistaken, the position of this city coincided with a medium-sized Earth Vein Node.

"Is this an attempt to... corrode the world one step at a time!?"

Richard looked at the appearance of the undersea city, and a terrifying thought suddenly leaped into his mind.

To seep the pollution into the earth veins, and then use these veins to spread across the entire world. Such corrosion is like slowly boiling a frog in warm water; once it starts, the entire world will be doomed.

This is a method of erosion he had never seen before.

The invasions by the Civilization Devourers in the past were often violent, with a feeling of "I'm killing you, so what?" But this method carries a hint of calculation.

"Different responses to different situations?"

Richard was silent, his figure suddenly vanished and then reappeared. When he reappeared, he was already within that undersea city.

Spiritual power surged from his body like a tide, instantly scanning the entire inside and outside of the undersea city.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed in Richard's eyes. With a casual grasp, a building four kilometers away from him shattered with a crash, and a very bizarre machine flew out and landed in his hand.

It was a very peculiar machine, constructed from flesh and bone, resembling an old-fashioned phonograph in appearance, but with a keyboard made of white bones on its base.

"Cross-border Communication Device?"

Richard squinted slightly, amazed that even though these Furnace Men were few in number, they were well-prepared.

Even having something like a Cross-border Communication Device.

It's known that even the current Wizard Alliance relies on the Cross-border Navigation Channel or the Alliance Dimension for cross-realm information transmission.

But this device in front of him could directly communicate across worlds, without the need for dimensions or the Cross-border Navigation Channel.

Sealing the item, the space beside Richard rippled, followed by a golden Miracle Fire emerging from it.

With an expressionless face, Richard casually waved, and the Miracle Fire fell upon the undersea city.

The Furnace Men mounted futile resistance against Richard, but their defiance didn't even make the energy force field around Richard fluctuate.

The Miracle Fire burned fiercely, and soon, the city was reduced to nothingness.

Richard withdrew all the Miracle Fire and then flew towards the other undersea cities.

Richard believed that these undersea cities were certainly more than one.

...

Tree Spirit Mother World.

"Cross-border Communication Device?"

The Great World Tree watched the sealed object Richard tossed aside, its gaze instantly frozen.

"Yes," replied Richard with a slight nod, his expression a bit grim, "Found from those who were infected."

The Great World Tree glanced at the Cross-border Communication Device, feeling that even its leaves were about to fall off.

The appearance of such a device indicated that at least two worlds had already been eroded by the Civilization Devourers. If the situation were worse, who knows to how many worlds this pollution had already spread.

The Great World Tree had never before considered the possibility that the Natural Federation was already stepping on a landmine. If they lifted their foot, the landmine would blast the entire Natural Federation to pieces.

"Can we crack this thing?" Richard asked the Great World Tree.

"I need coordinates."

The worlds under the Natural Federation, even more numerous than the wizards, comprised nearly twenty thousand worlds under its jurisdiction. If they were to check each world one by one, who knew how long it would take.

Moreover, checking one by one could easily alert the invaders.

Richard had no interest in playing hide and seek with these things.

"It can be cracked," the Great World Tree said. "Give me three days. The essence of this is still the Cross-border Communication Device from back then used by the Alliance, but with some technology from other civilizations mixed in.

Give me some time, and cracking it won't be an issue."

Richard nodded: "Alright, I leave it to you."

Saying this, Richard stood up and used the connection between the Divine Systems to contact Ulysses.

"Ulysses, how's the situation on your side? I've found that the cities in World No. 3 have already turned into Furnace Man Cities."

"Furnace Man City?"

Federation World No. 5.

Ulysses listened to Richard's message, a note of surprise in his voice.

"I've been to that place, and when I went there, it was still a city of those octopus-like creatures. How could it have become a Furnace Man City in just a few days?"

"What? You're saying those cities were still Tide Spirit cities just a few days ago?"

"Yes. Otherwise, I would've reported to you." Ulysses retorted, "Am I that unreliable in your eyes?"

Richard was silent, Ulysses's information reverberating in his mind like a thunderclap.

If those cities were Tide Spirit cities just days ago, then why were they Furnace Man Cities when he arrived?

Was someone trying to cover something up? Or was someone trying to mislead him under the guise of an opportunity?

Richard could feel a web named conspiracy already enveloping him. Someone was trying to use him to accomplish a certain goal.

Richard rubbed his brow, looking at the Cross-border Communication Device with very deep eyes.

He could be sure that the Great World Tree would definitely decode a coordinate from the device.

And the direction of this coordinate would clear one race of suspicion for him.