Three Iron Giants over three meters tall walked through the woods, yet they made no sound whatsoever. In their movement, Richard could only hear the faint noise of branches and leaves brushing against the Armor’s shell.

“My lord, what are your orders?”

The three Iron Giants approached Richard, bowing their heads to ask.

Richard waved his hand, “We just did a big job. For the time being, I reckon we need to keep quiet.”

After saying that, Richard took out a hand-drawn map from his pocket and started selecting a hiding place on the map.

Unless something unexpected happened, the elite Wizards returning from the front lines would conduct a tight search around Meteor Star Academy, in the surrounding mountains and hills.

But playing hide and seek with such a group of elite Black Wizards, Richard wasn’t really sure in his heart.

After much thought, Richard hesitated for an hour and ultimately decided to venture out.

At this time, you can’t think that the most dangerous place is the safest. The Black Wizards were all tough individuals who had fought their way out from behind enemy lines; such simple reversal thinking was of no use to them. Hiding near Meteor Star Academy would only increase the difficulty of escaping when discovered.

Unless Richard could be even more reverse and hide directly inside Meteor Star Wizard Academy.

Otherwise, the farther he hid at this time, the better.

Having chosen a location, Richard turned to leave.

But just as he was about to turn around, a faint rumbling sound came from afar.

Richard leaped up, narrowing his eyes. Through the gaps in the branches and leaves, he saw the Meteor Star Wizard Academy in the distance suddenly erupt with towering flames, and a mushroom cloud, tinted red by the firelight, appeared in the sky.

Richard revealed a hint of a smug smile and then turned to leave.

“That was a nice firework.”

…

“How bad is the damage to the communication tower?”

In front of the communication tower, Crispin’s face was dark, and he said nothing as he looked at the collapsed tower.

Meanwhile, Zick remained quite calm.

Before them, the second tallest building of Meteor Star Academy, the communication tower’s lower half had completely collapsed, and a terrible explosion had destroyed it in an instant.

The upper half of the tower, thanks to the protection of two Three Rings Wizards, was quite intact.

An Alchemy Wizard flew out from the upper half of the tower, quickly approached Zick after casting a glance at Crispin’s grim expression, and began to report the condition of the tower.

“Deputy Dean, the core equipment of the communication tower is still intact, and the damage is not severe, but…”

The Alchemy Wizard seemed hesitant to continue.

“But what?”

Zick smiled at the Wizard, his tone not at all harsh despite the incident.

“But the tower’s base equipment and functional circuits have all been destroyed. It’s likely to take several years to rebuild these things.”

Upon hearing this, Crispin at his side had an expression so grim it seemed as though water might drip from it.

But Zick remained calm and said,

“Isn’t that fine? It can be repaired in a few years, and the Academy war lasts fifty years.”

Having said that, Zick waved his hand, telling the Alchemy Wizard to mind his business, and then turned, pulling Crispin away from the scene.

After returning to the Core Wizard Tower, Crispin could no longer contain the fury in his heart.

In the office, his voice was loud as if a Giant Dragon were roaring.

“Shame! A great shame! A few Wizards actually sneaked into our Academy, boldly placing an Alchemy Bomb inside our communication tower!

And our patrol team, our Three Rings Wizards guarding the tower! They didn’t fucking react at all!

They didn’t fucking react at all!”

Crispin vented his rage, while Zick quietly watched everything unfold, neither intervening nor joining in.

Such roaring continued for nearly half an hour.

In the end, with his voice somewhat hoarse, Crispin sat wearily on a chair in the laboratory, his eyes bloodshot.

“Done yelling?” Zick asked indifferently.

Crispin violently turned towards Zick, his voice filled with gritted teeth as he asked,

“Master Zick, aren’t you angry at all?”

Zick shook his head, “Angry? Why should I be angry?

Our measures were already in place. If others could break in, it means they’re capable enough—there’s nothing to be angry about.

Is the retreat list you’re drafting finished? If it is, send someone to notify the frontline.

The communication tower will take some time to fix. We’ll need to find a reliable person to act as a messenger during this period.”

Crispin looked at Zick and gradually calmed down.

Indeed, he was still too green.

“Not yet, I think I need to redraft this list.” A cold glint flashed in Crispin’s eyes, “This disgrace must be washed clean with blood!”

Zick’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, “Before you draft the list, let me say this.

Make sure you take the frontline battle into consideration while drafting. You can curse to your heart’s content in private, but don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment.”

Crispin nodded slightly, “Master, rest assured, I’ll be careful.”

“Oh, Master Lai Kete has gone after them.” Crispin suddenly remembered something and spoke again.

Zick was startled, and then a helpless smile appeared on his face.

“That guy Lai Kete is still as hot-headed as ever. I’ll inform him later to rein it in a bit.”

…

Outside Meteor Star Wizard Academy, Lai Kete hovered in the air like a Flame Giant, his vast spiritual power of a Three Rings Wizard scanning every grass and tree around him like a high-frequency radar, relaying everything back to his brain.

And beneath him, in the thick forest, the unfortunate Kayang watched the sky, barely daring to breathe as the Flame Giant loomed above.

The misfortunate Kayang was a well-known Second Ring Wizard among the wizarding community of Black Tower Wizard Academy.

His legendary deeds began during his Wizard Apprentice days. During his entrance examination, the lower-level Synthetic Beasts meant for the experiment had an unusual malfunction.

A low-level Apprentice strength Synthetic Beast, due to an adverse reaction, suddenly exploded in the field.

The explosion resulted in over thirty prospective Apprentices’ deaths, and Kayang was among them.

But his position was right at the edge of the explosion’s force, losing only half an arm and one eye.

At that time, the Academy had an event where crystal balls could be exchanged for Magic Stones, and Kayang managed to make his first fortune because of the Synthetic Beast’s self-destruction.

After entering the Academy, Kayang’s path as an Apprentice wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, but it was certainly full of misfortune.

Ninety-nine percent successful experiments often failed in his hands, and this streak of bad luck didn’t just stop with him—close Wizard Apprentices would also be “blessed” with this misfortune.

From daily life to bloody exams, everyone near him suffered from continuous bad luck, regardless of whether they harbored malice or goodwill towards Kayang.

In such daily life filled with life and death crises, Kayang honed a remarkably solid foundation, both in practice and theory.

Misfortune might cause experiments with a ninety-nine percent chance of failure to fail, but it can’t make experiments with a hundred percent success rate fail.

Later on, Kayang became a Wizard.

In the Plane War, any mission he was on, no matter how safe, would turn incredibly dangerous in the end. The command center’s intelligence-based ratings meant nothing in face of his luck.

Luckily, in the Plane War, the reward was commensurate with the risk, though most of the gains were destroyed due to his misfortune.

Still, he managed to obtain a portion of the benefits beyond what ordinary Wizards would receive, allowing him to advance faster and become stronger than ordinary Wizards.

That was why Kayang was still alive.

Finally, the searching Flame Giant left Kayang’s head.

But even after his departure, Kayang didn’t move, still maintaining his concealed state.

Having struggled with misfortune for years, Kayang knew his own status well; he was sure that any movement would immediately bring Lai Kete back.

As if to confirm his guess, a tremendously strong spiritual power swept over his body once more. Had he dared move earlier, he would have been discovered by the Three Rings Wizard.

Half a day passed before Kayang finally confirmed that Lai Kete had gone far enough away.

He quickly emerged from his hiding spot, peeling five layers of Magic Armor cloaks off his body. These cloaks had all kinds of concealment abilities, from masking aura to Existence Fade, optical invisibility to shielding from spiritual power—it was truly comprehensive.

Misfortune could make unlikely events happen, but not events without any probability.

However, as soon as he had taken off his cloaks, he sensed a terrifying creature approaching from afar.

Without a doubt, it was Lai Kete coming after him.

This time, not only was Lai Kete closing in fast, but he was also bombarding the forest beneath with spells.

Huge swathes of forest ignited, and the wild animals within fled in panic.

The wrath of a Three Rings Wizard was no different from a natural disaster to them.

“Damn it, I only killed a few Wizards, what’s with all this fuss?”

Kayang cursed and immediately rushed away at high speed towards the distant hideout of Richard.

It seemed the Goddess of Luck was lifting her skirt for Kayang.