Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

The dull rumbling lasted for several breaths before slowly dissipating.

The Duke withdrew his right hand, and the giant hand of four colors turned into a myriad of sand particles, flowing back into his sleeve.

He stood still, calmly observing the ruins before him.

The church was no more, replaced by a giant palm-shaped pit, where fragments of obsidian at the bottom glimmered with the faintly trembling dark red fabric pieces in the wind.

The players gathered around the edge of the pit, silent as none spoke.

The Duke turned around and instructed Robert to clean up the battlefield, then stepped over the rubble towards the main hall.

...

A week later.

The smoke at Furnace Castle had dissipated.

This core city of the Rising Sun District, managed by the Fire Sect for hundreds of years, now had the sun insignia flags of the Light Sect fluttering on each tower’s flagpole.

On the streets, traces of battles could occasionally be seen: walls scorched by flame magic, paving stones crushed by Sand Servants, and cracks at the plaza’s edge yet to be repaired, but the bodies and weapon debris had been entirely cleared.

Members of the Fire Sect who surrendered were verified and registered; some willing to submit were incorporated into the preliminary sequence of the Light Sect, while those unwilling were dismissed and allowed to leave.

Some, unwilling to submit or leave, lurked underground.

Occasional alarms sounded throughout the city: a warehouse set on fire, the body of a Light Sect patrol knight found in an alley, an arrow shot from afar at a Divine Hall construction site undergoing renovation.

Although these damages occurred frequently, they were small in scale, not forming a climate. They just needed time to handle.

Robert set up dozens of patrol teams throughout the city, coordinating with the guards of the Light Sect dispatched by Dali, enforcing a grid management over the city. A fire would be extinguished as soon as it was set, and a hideout would be uprooted as soon as it was discovered. Gradually, the frequency of attacks decreased, with the remaining members of the Fire Sect lurking in the shadows being squeezed out bit by bit.

What truly shook the entire Rising Sun District was the method and outcome of this war.

From Duke’s entry into Furnace Castle to Augustus’s death, it took less than an hour.

Soon after, waves of Star Embers Guild players and Sand Servants swept through the city, with undead bodies and indestructible Sand Soldiers dismantling the core defense systems of the Fire Sect layer by layer, completely consuming the fortress the Four Gods Sect had managed for centuries.

When news reached the main base of the Light Sect, Dali was presiding over the daily meeting.

She read the battle report sent by Robert, remained silent for a while, and then lifted her head, speaking to Bishop Ambrose in a complex tone that even she couldn’t fully comprehend, "Duke single-handedly brought the Blessed Ones, exterminating the Fire Sect overnight."

Bishop Ambrose crossed his hands on the wooden staff and closed his eyes.

His old face was deeply wrinkled as if carved by a knife, his lips trembling slightly, unsure if he was praying or lamenting.

But the most shocked ones weren’t them. It was the other three sects.

The first time Duke sent invitations, the Water Sect declined due to busyness, the Earth Sect politely refused because their Great Mage was unwell, and the Wind Sect didn’t even respond.

The Fire Sect, however, replied with an insulting letter.

Now the Fire Sect no longer existed.

Augustus’s body was hung from the flagpole at the dome of Furnace Castle’s main hall, that majestic fortress built with dark red volcanic rock now served as the command center for the Light Sect in the Rising Sun District.

So when Duke’s second invitation was delivered to the desks of the three Great Mages a few days later, the wording was almost identical to the first.

Inviting the Great Mages of each sect to Furnace Castle for discussions, concerning the future of the sects.

The only change was an added note at the signature, written as neatly and calmly as the main text, yet sending a chill down the spine of every Great Mage who read it.

"The Fire Sect has made its choice. Three days later, Furnace Castle. Come or not, it’s your decision."

This time, all three replies reached Furnace Castle by the next day.

The phrasing was surprisingly consistent, thanking the Child of Light for the gracious invitation, assuring timely attendance.

On the third morning, in the top-floor conference room of Furnace Castle’s Central Tower.

The room was still the same round one, with the volcanic glaze on the walls cracked in several places during the battles a few days ago, yet to be fully repaired, with fissures crawling across the glaze surface like frozen lightning.

The obsidian long table was still the same long table, the fine cracks left by the aftershocks of Augustus’s strike still clearly visible on the tabletop.

The Duke deliberately chose this conference room, sitting in the chair directly facing the head’s seat.

He did not sit in the head’s position.

The high-backed obsidian chair that Augustus once sat on was deliberately left empty by him as a silent reminder.

That seat could remain vacant, and could be vacated again at any time.

Robert and Dali stood behind the Duke, while Bishop Ambrose and Knight Henry stood on one side, both dressed in the formal robes of the Light Sect, their expressions solemn. Yet the slight tremor of Ambrose’s fingers and the intentionally suppressed corners of Henry’s mouth showed they weren’t fully accustomed to the scene yet.

The first to arrive was Selena, the Great Mage of the Water Sect.

She was a poised, middle-aged woman dressed in a long azure robe, her hair ornamented with a silver hairpin shaped like a water wave, her appearance well-maintained, though the fine crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes and the hint of silver at her temples did not escape the Duke’s keen eyes.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!