Another three months passed, and after the second round of competition, Saya, driven by Charles's encouragement, managed to defeat all his opponents and secured his qualification.
The golden duo of Charles and Saya reunited once more.
With the best resources of Silent Heart Academy at their disposal, the two motivated and supported each other, their strength advancing by leaps and bounds.
Opening his eyes and sensing the qualitatively transformed energy within his body, Saya realized he had finally become a true Wizard—no longer burdened by the title of Apprentice.
Under normal circumstances, this level would have taken several more years to reach. But thanks to this opportunity and the academy's full support, he had achieved it far sooner.
"Even a pig can fly when caught in the right wind."
Though this saying didn't exist in the Wizarding World, there were plenty of similar proverbs. Saya understood just how rare the opportunities afforded to him by this era were.
As long as he performed well in the World War, many things that were previously out of reach would be handed to him effortlessly, eliminating the need to consider other factors.
'Perhaps this is the fairest time in over a hundred thousand years…'
'The World War is a grand stage. If I can shine upon it, maybe I…'
Soon after, a message arrived on the communication device he carried.
After reading it, a smile crept onto Saya's lips—it was from Charles, informing him that he too had advanced to the rank of full-fledged Wizard and inquiring about Saya's progress.
Unlike the electronic devices of technological civilizations, the communication devices of the Wizarding World were composed of numerous runes, capable of detecting soul fluctuations and requiring no servers. However, they had their limitations—outside the Wizarding World, unless the user was sufficiently powerful, these devices could only function as short-range walkie-talkies. The exact range depended on the individual's strength, but for an ordinary Wizard Apprentice, it was barely a few dozen meters—shouting would be more practical.
After replying to Charles, Saya focused on familiarizing himself with his new physical state.
Upon becoming a full-fledged Wizard, a special energy radiation field would manifest around the body—a natural defensive force, but also a dangerously volatile one that could harm innocent bystanders.
Thus, the Wizard Council strictly prohibited newly advanced Wizards from venturing outside until they fully controlled their Radiation Field. For now, Saya was confined until he mastered his newfound power.
Seated in the spectator stands outside the arena, borrowing the power of his Avatar, Olthagia observed the combat style of the two fighters. Though he didn't quite understand why two spellcasters were brawling with their fists, their movements struck him as oddly familiar. Upon closer inspection, he realized their techniques resembled those from his long-abandoned comic series, Indescribable Fist.
Years ago, during his stint as an art master, he had idly drawn the comic out of boredom. But his interest had waned as quickly as it came—after all, his primary passion was sketching nude portraits of beautiful women. Comics were too lowbrow for his refined tastes.
He lost interest before even writing the dialogue, tossing the drafts into the trash without a second thought.
It was probably dug out from the trash by someone, after all, even the drafts of a master artist hold some value.
After recalling for a moment, he remembered.
The techniques scribbled on those pages were all made up on the spot. Still, as a master of combat systems, there was some technical substance to those messy sketches—though whether they'd cause any real issues if practiced, he couldn't say. After all, he was just a law-abiding Demon painter drifting alone in a foreign land. How could he possibly understand such profound matters?
Two years later, on a certain day.
Just as previously foretold, within the endless trajectories of moving worlds, the barriers of two realms were about to make contact.
The first sign was a slender passage linking the two, at the center of which lay an independent space jointly nurtured by both worlds.
This was the battlefield agreed upon by the Wizarding civilization and the Gainser civilization.
Neither side wanted the flames of war to reach their homelands—victory at such a cost would be too devastating for either to bear.
Thus, this arrangement was tacitly accepted.
Though small-scale sabotage was still inevitable, at least large-scale invasions had been ruled out.
Only by defeating the enemy's main forces within that confined space would they consider launching a full-scale invasion of the opposing world.
Of course, they were well aware that the other side surely had contingencies prepared in their homeland. By then, mutual destruction might very well be the outcome.
Using sensory transmission devices crafted through Wizardry, Charles was fine-tuning the War Wizardry Device under his charge.
It was a Wizardry Tower standing over fifty meters tall—essentially a massive energy discharge apparatus capable of channeling power from the Energy Furnace beneath it to unleash various offensive and defensive spells.
The Energy Furnace itself lay hundreds of meters underground, shielded by the most rigorous protections, where billions of runes converged into a near-impenetrable fortress.
Incidentally, both the Energy Furnace and the Wizardry Tower were housed within a floating sphere forty kilometers in diameter.
This was the Wizarding World's war weapon—the Star of Elthorp · Mobile Annihilator.
Such weapons were not only astronomically resource-intensive but also demanded unparalleled craftsmanship, with an average production cycle of over three thousand years per unit.
Charles's understanding of it was far from comprehensive. He only knew that the Wizardry Tower he managed, though capable of flattening a small mountain in a single strike, was just one of tens of thousands distributed across the spherical construct. Moreover, if the pilot of the Star of Elthorp · Mobile Annihilator willed it, countless Wizardry rituals could synchronize these attacks into a single, cataclysmic assault.
According to hints Charles once picked up during casual banter with his superiors, these two functions were merely the most basic capabilities. Far more lay hidden within other specialized departments, serving as the sphere's secret weapons.
Immersed in the internal Mindlink Network of the Wizardry Tower, Charles felt a godlike satisfaction, as though boundless power surged within him.
Though he knew it was just an illusion, he couldn't help but think, 'With such powerful weapons, we're bound to win...'
He glanced up at the timer overhead, which still showed over a day counting down—the estimated time until direct contact with enemy forces.