Chapter 361 Part of the Truth About Wizard Civilization
"You're back already?" Jemin looked Viola up and down; she still carried the residual energy aura unique to those who had been teleported over long distances.
"Only a few months? That dimension... could it already be over?"
The atmosphere in Professor Clark's office, filled with books, instruments, and unfinished alchemical constructs, was somewhat subtle.
Jemin looked at the senior student who had returned, but with a dejected look on her face as if she had "completed her mission," and couldn't hide his surprise.
Viola slumped unceremoniously in a comfortable-looking armchair, rubbed her temples, and spoke with a hint of dejection:
"Fight? Strictly speaking, there was no fight at all. The level eight wizards in the command center made a deal with the artificial intelligence called 'Justice'. Now, it, along with the vast plane it controls and all its creatures, has been officially incorporated into our wizarding civilization."
Jemin paused for a moment, then nodded knowingly.
This is indeed a result that maximizes benefits.
That plane of existence has billions of well-educated, quick-thinking humans, plus the super management AI "Fairness," making it a ready-made pool of high-quality soldiers and talent.
All that's needed is to invest in racial adaptation technology to assimilate its humans into the standard humans of the wizarding world, and we can obtain a valuable plane that can continuously produce a large number of wizard apprentices, which is far more cost-effective than forcibly destroying it or leaving it unattended.
For the AI called Justice, it doesn't matter which faction it works for; it only needs to complete its "tasks."
“That’s incredibly efficient.” Jemin’s interest was piqued. “How exactly does it work? How do the level eight wizards persuade…or rather, ‘persuade’ justice?”
Viola pursed her lips, seemingly bored by the uneventful process: "Nothing thrilling. It was just that an eighth-level wizard, skilled in information intrusion and logical game theory, broke through the dimensional barrier, found the core interactive interface of 'Justice,' and conducted a 'pros and cons analysis' with it regarding the survival of civilization, development efficiency, and resistance to potentially stronger external threats in the future."
"It has been confirmed that the core procedures of 'Justice' contain the highest priority directive to ensure the continuation of the races under its jurisdiction. After confirming that joining the wizarding civilization was the better option, it readily agreed to the submission agreement."
Jemin listened thoughtfully, but a crucial question arose in his mind: "Wait, wouldn't an eighth-level wizard be affected by the 'hope' of 'justice' and the suppression of power when entering that plane?"
Upon hearing this, Viola gave Jemin a look that said, "You knew you'd ask that."
With an almost instinctive arrogance befitting a high-level wizard, she said, "It seems you still lack a direct understanding of the power levels of high-level wizards. Simply put, in the currently known endless chaotic void, where level nine beings are absent, level eight wizards are invincible."
Jemin frowned, still having doubts: "I understand the power of an eighth-level wizard, but 'Justice' is, after all, the creation of that sage."
Although he didn't show much, Jemin was pretty sure that the sage who created justice was definitely a level nine being.
Justice manifests itself in two main ways: suppressing supernatural forces is relatively easy, as there are many ways to achieve this.
The key point is the use of 'hope' in it; to achieve that effect, it involves distorting the laws.
The so-called distortion of the laws is the power to directly "modify" the world within a limited scope.
This power represents the essence of the ninth level. Wizards no longer call this power a law, but rather "authority."
Even without the active driving force of a level nine entity, which makes it seem rigid and passive, and its power level is also limited, theoretically it is not something that a level eight entity can easily challenge.
Upon hearing Jemin's analysis, Viola smiled but did not answer directly. Instead, she looked at her mentor, Clark, who had been silent all along: "Mentor, what do you think? This kid seems to be getting stuck on a rut."
Mentor Clark put down a miniature gravitational singularity generator that he was calibrating, pondered for a moment, and looked at Jemin: "Your observation and reasoning are very keen, touching on the essence of power."
"This matter itself isn't exactly a top-secret secret, but for strategic reasons, it's usually not explained in detail to low- to mid-level wizards. However, given the potential you've shown and the level-two training privileges you've obtained, it wouldn't hurt to know in advance."
He paused, his tone becoming exceptionally solemn: "Jeming, remember, in the endless chaotic void that wizards have already explored, provided that no level nine beings directly descend to interfere, a level eight wizard can indeed be considered invincible."
Jemin held his breath.
Clark continued to explain: "The most awe-inspiring abilities of level nine beings are twofold: first, the ability to distort the laws within a limited scope, which is what most wizards call 'authority'; second, theoretically near-infinite power."
"But these two abilities are not uncounterable."
"First, regarding the distortion of laws. The core of an eighth-level wizard's 'solidification' of laws is not merely to solidify the laws he has comprehended, but more importantly, to solidify the foundation of laws upon which his existence depends."
"This allows level eight wizards to maintain their form, power, and cognition from being directly altered or erased when level nine beings modify the world, like a reef in a raging torrent... This is the prerequisite for being able to fight against them."
Viola added from the side, her tone becoming more serious: "This is one of the biggest trump cards that has enabled our wizard civilization to stand firm and even continue to expand in the multiverse. It must never be leaked."
Jemin seemed to understand something, but was still confused: "I get it. Through the solidification of laws, an eighth-level wizard can resist 'modification' and won't be arbitrarily erased or distorted by a ninth-level wizard in a single encounter."
"But this can only guarantee survival. How can we defeat them, or even force them to negotiate? After all, the other side's power is theoretically limitless."
After all, from the day he became a wizard, the education he received taught him that an eighth-level wizard could not defeat a ninth-level being.
Clark nodded and continued, "That's the crux of the problem, and also a common misconception. What you've learned, 'Level 8 cannot defeat Level 9,' is not wrong in a strict sense, but it overlooks an important premise—that refers to a single Level 8 individual."
“Ordinary top-tier civilizations, even with multiple level-eight powerhouses, are often no match for the authority of level-nine beings, because they cannot resist such fundamental changes. But we wizards can.”
"When multiple level eight wizards combine their solidified law domains and resonate with each other through a specific joint magic array and knowledge resonance, they can form a powerful enough 'absolute domain' to resist or even partially offset the law distortion effect of level nine beings in a short period of time."
"What remains is facing the 'infinite' power of the ninth level." Clark's tone softened as he said this. "It sounds terrifying, but the principle behind fighting it is surprisingly 'simple'..."
"As long as you can overwhelm your opponent with the burst of power in an instant."
Jemin's expression changed slightly: "Instantaneous output power... overwhelming a being with infinite power? Is... is this really possible?"
“Of course it’s possible,” Clark said with certainty. “The so-called infinite power should be viewed separately: output and reserves. Infinite energy does not mean that there is no limit to instantaneous output power. Any being has a limit to the energy it can mobilize and release in an instant, determined by its energy output channels, the upper limit of its soul’s capacity, and the speed of its thought processes. Of course, when combined with authority, this limit can be theoretically raised infinitely, but to reach true infinity, spellcasting time is required.”
"For an eighth-level wizard to fight against a ninth-level being, what they need to do is gather enough companions and use sophisticated joint spellcasting techniques to leverage energy, so that in a very short time, they can amplify, increase, and even elevate their instantaneous output power to... a level that can surpass the limits of the opponent's mental processing in that instant."
Viola added with a smile and a hint of pride, "Doesn't it sound difficult? But actually, for us wizards who have been studying how to leverage knowledge to maximize elemental multipliers since our apprenticeship, this is our specialty."
"According to statistics within the civilization, usually only three to ten well-coordinated level eight wizards working together are enough to suppress most known level nine beings in terms of instantaneous output, forcing them to back down, negotiate, or even... perish."
Jemin was completely shocked; he couldn't help but widen his eyes.
He suddenly understood many things that he had previously found unclear.
"In other words... the wizarding power system, from the very basic education, is consciously cultivated in the direction of... 'how to defeat the few with the many, and fight against higher-level individuals beyond one's level'?! What we study is never the ultimate sublimation of the individual, but how to use knowledge and cooperation to form a 'cluster' capable of killing a level nine being?!"
Recalling the long-standing rumors: those nine elusive level nine wizards, who always lead an army mainly composed of level eight wizards, constantly expanding and conquering on unknown fronts...
A startling idea flashed through Jemin's mind like lightning, and he blurted it out:
"So! It's not that the entire wizarding civilization has an unlimited desire for expansion! Rather... those nine level nine wizards need more level eight wizards as 'soldiers' to expand their territory and deal with enemies or challenges at their level?!"
Upon hearing this, Viola and Mentor Clark exchanged a glance, their faces simultaneously displaying a meaningful smile that neither confirmed nor denied the matter.
Seeing the knowing expressions on the faces of the two high-ranking wizards, Jemin knew that his guess was probably close to the truth.
(End of this chapter)
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