Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

These three steps are usually carried out while fighting, pushing forward the battle line at the front, while simultaneously stabilizing and developing at the rear.

Now that the direct battle on Black Stone Plain has ended, the next main task for the 235th Legion and several surrounding legions is responsible for the first and second steps in the Black Stone Plain area.

Stabilizing defenses, building bases, constructing roads and teleportation arrays, all of which are long-term tasks that require a large workforce and time.

For ordinary battle group wizards, this means they will be stationed on the Black Stone Plain for the coming months or even longer, participating in these foundational construction tasks.

But for Duke and his five-person team, the situation is different.

Their task was completed the moment the Molten Fire Fortress was destroyed.

Initially, Ares assigned the Twenty-Third Battle Group the task of cutting off the southeastern mineral vein, Rex led the team to complete this task, and Mateo successfully severed the underground energy channel.

Although the Twenty-Third Battle Group encountered an unexpected attack by Level 4 enemies during the task execution, resulting in heavy losses, the task itself was completed.

Following task completion, the next question is about choosing to stay or leave.

After completing a phase of the task, wizards generally can choose whether to continue staying on the plane to participate in subsequent tasks or to settle their contribution points and return to the Wizard Plane.

After all, a plane war often cannot be concluded in a short time, potentially lasting years, decades, or even centuries.

Choosing to stay means continuing to accumulate battle achievements and contribution points. Although subsequent foundational tasks and clearing remaining enemies aren’t as fierce as the front-line battles, they offer stability. For wizards needing to accumulate resources, it’s a prudent choice.

Choosing to return means cashing in on existing battle achievements, going back to the Six-Ring Tower to use contribution points to exchange for needed resources and knowledge, resting for a period before deciding the next move.

For Duke, this choice requires no hesitation.

The Key of Rules found in the ruins of the Heart of Molten Fire is the biggest gain of this journey.

The Key of Rules is the most crucial and direct method to advance to a Level 3 Mage, also the item he’s kept a lookout for all these years at the Six-Ring Tower without obtaining.

Now that he has it, the only choice in his mind is to quickly return to the Wizard Plane to complete the breakthrough to a Level 3 Mage.

The existence of Level 4 Life like Jin Mo made him realize more than ever the fragility of a Level 2 Mage in this plane war.

His survival was due not to strength, but to luck and the instinctive response to perceived danger.

Next time encountering similar enemies, luck might not favor him again.

Moreover, after advancing to a Level 3 Mage, his combat power will qualitatively leap, the power of rules enhancing all his magic several times in potency, the combination of Level 3 Body and Rule Enlightenment significantly improving his survival ability on the battlefield.

Additionally, according to the rules of the Six-Ring Tower, the treatment enjoyed in battle achievement calculations, task allocation, and resource acquisition for Level 3 Mage is incomparable to Level 2.

Therefore, during these few days, Duke has been resting at the camp while preparing to return.

On the fifth day, Ares’ adjutant sent a message via the Six-Ring Badge to all surviving members of the Twenty-Third Battle Group: The battle achievements calculation is complete, the task contribution points of the Twenty-Third Battle Group have been entered into the system, individuals can go to the battle achievements settlement office for inquiry and settlement.

The message included a brief note at the end, stating that the legion doesn’t impose mandatory subsequent tasks, whether to continue participating in the Four Spirits Elemental Plane’s follow-up actions is left to individual decisions.

Upon receiving the message, Duke went to the battle achievements settlement office.

The settlement office tent was large, with a row of long tables inside, behind which sat several wizards from the Six-Ring Tower logistics department, with piles of thick documents and several magic crystals used to read Six-Ring Badge data in front of them.

Duke placed his Six-Ring Badge on a crystal, and after a flash of light, a logistics wizard handed him a list.

The list densely listed his battle achievement items: Black Stone Plain perimeter clearance task, secret march on the Redridge Mountains, siege battle of the Molten Fire Fortress, records of fortress internal loot submission.

He submitted some of the Level 1 and Level 2 elemental crystal minerals to the legion based on proportion, which will be converted into contribution points.

Combined with the basic contribution point rewards for task completion, the total is quite substantial.

But at this moment, Duke’s mind is no longer on this.

He put the list away, turned and exited the tent, sending Vera a message via the badge: "I’m planning to return to the Wizard Plane, what about you?"

Vera’s reply came quickly: "I’m returning with you."

A few seconds later, another message followed: "Leon and Edmond also want to return, Morris says he wants to stay."

After reading the message, Duke paused his steps.

Morris choosing to stay fits his style.

Those from the Doomsday Bell never fear death, considering it a commonplace practice, experiencing rules and refining themselves in battle.

The subsequent clearing of enemies and foundational construction on Black Stone Plain isn’t as intense as the front-line battlefield, but across the vast Ashfire Continent, there are countless areas like the Redridge Mountains yet to be fully controlled by the Wizard Plane, where danger and opportunities abound.

At dawn the next day, Duke, Vera, Leon, and Edmond arrived at the teleportation array area on the north side of the camp.

The temporary teleportation array was set up on a platform leveled by earth magic, the silver-white teleportation halo engraved on a hexagonal obsidian base, several array-operating wizards performing the final adjustments.

As Duke handed his Six-Ring Badge to the operator for registration, he instinctively glanced towards the direction of Black Stone Plain.

The black scorched earth, bombarded beyond recognition, still smoldered, gray-white volcanic ash continuously falling, burying all colors beneath the gray-white.

The vast magma lake encompassed by circular rubble dams emitted a faint glow in the distance, resembling an unhealable wound on the earth.

Yet at the edge of this wasteland, signs of activity from Wizard Plane’s engineering teams could already be seen, earth element wizards solidifying new road foundations, alchemists installing nodes for the defense magic array at key positions, and slave creatures being driven to transport construction materials.

Before long, a new wizard fortress will rise from this scorched earth, becoming yet another stronghold for the Six-Ring Tower in the Four Spirits Elemental Plane.

This is war, simultaneously destructive and constructive.

Conquering while assimilating.

"Duke." Vera’s voice called from the teleportation array.

She stood at the center of the silver light ring, reminding him: "It’s time to go."

Duke withdrew his gaze and stepped into the teleportation array.

The silver-white light rose from their feet, enveloping the four figures.

The light ring suddenly brightened, then abruptly contracted, leaving the platform empty.

The sky over the Four Spirits Elemental Plane was hazy, volcanic ash still silently drifting.

On the distant Black Stone Plain, dozens of newly built furnace chimneys were being erected, dark red firelight appearing particularly glaring in the gray-white world.

And in the depths of the Redridge Mountains far to the southwest of Black Stone Plain, Jin Mo sat alone at the volcanic crater edge of a dormant volcano, his dark golden skin reflecting a cold, dim light under the hazy sky.

The crack on his chest had mostly healed, leaving only a fine line almost invisible on the skin surface.

His differently colored pupils gazed towards the distant Black Stone Plain, at the rising chimneys and expanding camps, contemplating something unknown.

He withdrew his gaze, stood up, and walked deeper into the mountains.

At the volcano crater base behind him, the lava silently churning, the dark red light casting a long shadow behind his dark golden figure.

Meanwhile, in the distant Wizard Plane Central Islands, the teleportation array hall on the seventy-fifth floor of the Six-Ring Tower flashed with silver-white light, four figures stepping out of the ring.

Duke stood on the familiar silver-blue crystalline floor, inhaling deeply the clean air, carrying a faint ozone smell and the scent of book paper, so distinct from the Four Spirits Elemental Plane.

Finally, he was back; now begins the full preparation for advancing to a Level 3 Mage.

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