The old wizard’s words made Richard frown slightly; this is the downside of strength being the highest authority.
The Great Wizards’ compliance with the command structure hinges entirely on the Great Wizards of the command being superior to them, or at least on their level.
Once a Great Wizard disappears, the command structure becomes a mere façade in an instant.
Great Wizards wouldn’t listen to a group of Three Rings Wizards.
After a brief silence, Richard calmly said, "I understand, send the notice to each basic battle zone command center. I need to rebuild the command system."
"Oh, and send a message to headquarters, have them dispatch two Three Rings Wizards to me."
"Three Rings Wizards... no problem, sir."
The wizards in the staff department said no more; a Five Rings Great Wizard has the right to add a few apprentices under his command.
Richard cast a glance at the command hall, where the busy staff officers promptly began organizing the information for several battle zones, enabling Richard, the sub-battle zone commander, to better understand the state of his subordinate basic battle zones.
As they were organizing, Richard suddenly spotted someone who seemed somewhat familiar.
Although he hadn’t seen him for nearly a thousand years, Richard still recognized Kayang among the crowd of wizards.
There was no way around it; this unlucky wizard had left a very deep impression on Richard. In the past, breaking his Curse Of Misfortune had brought Richard tremendous benefits.
The Balancing Hand Richard now uses and the Eye of Truth in his left eye both originated from the illusion creature that cursed Kayang.
Kayang was momentarily stunned, his mind racing as he reflected on when he had met a Five Rings Great Wizard.
After scrutinizing Richard’s face, his expression changed to one of shock, exclaiming, "Lord Richard!?"
"It seems it really is you."
Richard walked over to Kayang with a smile. In these times, it was always a pleasure to see a familiar wizard.
"Not bad, you even became a staff officer of a sub-battle zone."
Kayang gave a shy smile, once again appraising Richard.
After joining Richard Jolod’s Commerce, he hadn’t met Richard again. His last impression of Richard was from when Richard created a miniature Floating City, causing quite the stir in the circle of Three Rings Wizards.
But now, in less than a thousand years since, Richard had unexpectedly become a Five Rings Great Wizard.
This was indeed quite baffling.
"Sir, how is President Jolod doing?"
"The teacher is still the same."
Yet despite his words, a hint of sorrow flashed across Richard’s face. Although Jolod hadn’t gone to the front lines, the work in the rear was no less demanding.
The high-intensity creation of Synthetic Beasts was slowly eroding Jolod’s lifespan, but the old wizard was obstinately unwilling to be transferred to a more relaxed position.
In Jolod’s words, he was also a part of Wizard Civilization, and at this time, he should contribute all his strength to the civilization.
Kayang sighed slightly, "President Jolod is a good person, he took good care of me in the commerce. I hope destiny favors him."
The pleasantries ended, and the conversation did not continue.
Richard needed to understand the situation of his several battle zones below, while Kayang needed to analyze and organize the intelligence reported from below.
There would be time to reminisce after the war; what they needed to do was perform their duties well.
Information on the five battle zones was quickly delivered to Richard, and at the forefront of these materials were the profiles of several Great Wizards.
Richard quickly glanced through them; none of the five basic battle zones were lacking Great Wizards, and aside from the Great Wizard of Blueglow that Richard saved, three of the other four Great Wizards were old wizards.
And they were wizards who had become Great Wizards before the war began.
"This is a bit troublesome."
Richard slightly frowned as he looked at the Great Wizards’ profiles.
Old wizards do not just possess strong combat power; blind confidence and arrogance could also be their traits.
To Richard, a Great Wizard having slightly weaker combat power was not a problem, as long as they listened to him; with his ability, he could definitely stabilize this section of the defense line.
The King of Mayfly across from him couldn’t defeat him; as long as he remained steady, he could spare some effort to assist the battles of the other Great Wizards.
However, if the lower battlefield collapsed, he would be powerless.
Both the war clusters of the Galaxy Mayfly and the Wizard group armies could pose a threat to the World Master.
The troops capable of reaching this battlefield, even if mere filler soldiers, were all veteran soldiers with countless battles fought. And those elite corps could even collaborate to perform Legion Magic.
Once these corps had their hands free, both the Great Wizards and the King of Mayfly would have to temporarily avoid confrontation.
Richard murmured while looking at the information, "Hopefully, these guys are all self-aware, or there’ll be trouble..."
"Commander, there’s a situation in the basic battle zone."
A staff officer quickly walked up to Richard and reported softly, "Commander, the Great Wizard of Purgatory Purifying Fire in the Thirteen Battle Zone says he’s directly accepting orders from the supreme commander and is temporarily unable to join the sub-battle zone’s command structure."
"Directly accepting orders from the supreme commander?"
Hearing this excuse, Richard couldn’t help but chuckle in exasperation.
In terms of authority, the Basic Battle Zone can indeed be directly commanded by the General Command. If needed, the General Command can bypass the Subordinate Battle Zone Command to directly command the Basic Battle Zone.
However, the General Command generally does not do this.
Because they must consider the dignity of a Five Rings Great Wizard.
The General Command can refuse to give power to the Five Rings Great Wizard, but they absolutely cannot give them command power and then forcibly ignore that power.
Moreover, if the General Command directly commands the Basic Battle Zone and an error occurs, the responsibility must fall on the General Command.
Although a Six Rings Great Wizard is precious, they are still just chess pieces in the hands of a Truth Wizard.
As chess pieces, they can be sacrificed.
"What’s the background of this Purgatory Purifying Fire?"
Richard flipped to the page about Purgatory Purifying Fire in the materials he held, which only recorded the Great Wizard’s abilities and achievements, without mentioning his background.
"He is...the student of our Western Line General Battle Zone Commander." The Staff Officer cautiously responded.
"The General Commander’s student?" Richard chuckled, his gaze suddenly becoming sharp, "Send a battle report to the General Command and ask what exactly is happening in the West Thirteen Battle Zone.
Why did it require direct management by the General Command?
If the General Command wants to conduct a big operation from West Eleven to West Fifteen Battle Zones, I can relinquish command and hand over all management to the General Command."
Basic Battle Zones are not isolated; the collapse of one zone inevitably increases the pressure on surrounding zones, possibly triggering a chain reaction that causes issues along the entire front line.
West Thirteen Battle Zone Command Center.
Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard stood in front of the Communication Crystal Ball, listening to the teacher’s reprimands in the Crystal Ball like an apprentice, feeling aggrieved.
"...Is your mind crystallized by the Fire Element? Do you know who you’re embarrassing? Mine!"
Listening to the roars of his teacher, the flames on Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard dimmed, then said somewhat defiantly: "Teacher, just a Five Rings Great Wizard..."
"Just? Did you see the notification from the General Command, you stupid pig?"
"I saw it, isn’t it just that Arrogant Richard..."
"You know it’s him and you still dare to do this?" The commander’s roar interrupted Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard again, "You stupid pig, don’t you check his background before calling others arrogant?
Before he became a Great Wizard, he was the Deputy Dean of Physique Crown. After Physique Crown ascended to truth, his ranking in the Physique School even surpassed the Crown’s student, right after the Crown!
If you think about it, you should know clearly that the support behind those words is definitely the Crown.
The purpose is to let you, a stupid pig, go find trouble with him, then magnify this matter, and magnify it again, more!"
The roaring of his teacher made the flames on Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard tremble; if things were indeed as his teacher said, he almost became a sacrifice to reform.
"What does the Crown want..."
"Shut up, is this something you can discuss?!" The commander was almost speechless from his student’s stupidity, after a momentary pause, he said in as calm a tone as possible, "Little Flame, now you immediately write an apology letter to send to the Subordinate Battle Zone Command, and then obediently listen to his command.
This guy confirmed the title of King of Mayfly in the edge battle zone, ranked quite well on the council’s Fifth Level strength statistics list.
Following him, your little life will definitely be stronger than fighting alone."
Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard wanted to say something more, but the commander had already cut off communication.
The command center was silent; the Staff Officer feared making any noise, afraid of drawing the attention of Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard who had just been reprimanded.
They had worked with this Great Wizard for a long time and knew clearly that he was absolutely not a person with a good temper.
Watching the disconnected Communication Crystal Ball, the flames on Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard continued to surge, causing the temperature in the entire command center to rise sharply.
But soon, the temperature dropped again.
Great Wizards are not fools; even if he was furious under his teacher’s explicit order to apologize, he had to comply obediently.
Otherwise, his teacher wouldn’t mind cleaning up to prevent whatever unknown scheme from burning himself.
Purgatory Purifying Fire Great Wizard returned to his position, speaking in a low voice.
"Someone draft me an apology letter."
"Oh? Looks like the commander is giving quite a bit of face."
Seeing the apology letter in his hand, Richard showed a slight unexpected smile.
He originally thought of only regaining command, didn’t expect an unexpected gain.
Putting the apology letter into his pocket, Richard came to his regional battle zone map, silently watching the staff officers simulate the battle situation.
Compared to these staff officers who had fought civilization wars for hundreds of years, Richard considered his experience insufficient so he currently only decided the course of action, not participating in specific planning.
From the Wilderness World experience, the staff department paired with target-oriented tactics was a very good combination.
Perhaps, this experience is worth promoting.
"Connect me to the West Eleven Battle Zone."