Chapter 383 Research and Promotion and the New Shuttle
In the Noren 13 plane, the faint light from the spatial teleportation stabilized in the personal laboratory.
Jemin exhaled softly, the strange aroma of the food from that grand banquet still lingering in his nostrils.
That was no ordinary banquet.
The table is laden with delicacies, all created out of thin air by alchemy, but their taste, the energy they contain, and even the unique effects of some extinct species are all real, bringing an ultimate enjoyment to both the taste buds and the soul.
Jemin even tasted a cup of nectar that was said to be brewed from the essence of the brain marrow of the "Star Rainbow Whale," which had long been lost in the annals of history. The taste was as if he had drunk a miniature, dazzling galaxy into his stomach.
"Alchemy... truly a miraculous art that turns the impossible into the possible," Jemin couldn't help but exclaim again.
In theory, as long as one's alchemical skills are profound enough and one has a thorough understanding of the material composition, energy flow, and information imprint of the target object, one can perfectly reproduce it regardless of the barriers of time and space.
He can now barely synthesize some simple organic compounds, but he is still separated from the realm of reproducing all things by countless knowledge gaps and technological barriers.
Beside him, Viola, mentor Clark, and junior student Ang also returned to Noren 13 Academy.
After Anton Buchanan was promoted, he obviously had other things to discuss, but that was none of their business.
Those who stayed behind were all wizards of level seven or above. After the banquet, Jemin and the others obediently followed their mentor and left.
Now that the matter was over, the group returned to Noren 13 Academy and decided to go home separately.
As before, after establishing a connection with the substitute doll, Jemin placed his "spare body" in his mentor Clark's laboratory.
Before parting, Mentor Clark gave a special reminder: "Pay close attention to announcements from the academy and workshop in the coming days, as there may be some important changes."
Jemin and the others nodded knowingly.
The birth of an eighth-level wizard is nothing to wizarding civilization, but it is no small matter to Norren Workshop and its surrounding forces.
This not only signifies a leap in the combat power of the top echelons of the Norn Workshop, but will also directly impact the power structure of the surrounding wizarding forces, including the "Tower of Annihilation" and the "Cult of Chaos," centered around the Norn Workshop.
The redistribution of resources, the increase or decrease of influence, and the subtle adjustments in the relationship between cooperation and competition...
However, Jemin also knew that the wizarding civilization was currently in the development stage and had a wealth of external resources. Even if there were changes, they wouldn't be too significant. He could still stay in the Purgatory Sulfur Plane, conduct research, and live a peaceful life.
After bidding farewell to his mentor and fellow disciples, Jemin did not delay and immediately activated his dimensional access, returning to his base camp—the Purgatory Sulfur Dimension.
The familiar scent of sulfur mixed with the faint sense of order brought by the operation of incense and the sacred path wafted over him, calming his mind.
Back in the lab, Jemin immediately set about dealing with the backlog of tasks.
The primary task is to realize the large amount of spiritual energy that Mentor Clark purchased earlier.
He arrived at the specially designed "spiritual energy extraction room" in the laboratory and activated the magic array.
Instantly, the incense and divine network covering the entire plane rippled slightly, and the pure spiritual energy, after initial transformation, gathered from all parts of the plane as if summoned.
The runes are purified and compressed through a complex array of runes, and then injected into a special energy storage crystal inscribed with powerful, stabilizing, and isolating runes.
Because Instructor Clark needed such a large quantity, it took Jemin half a day to prepare the concentrated spiritual energy, worth 10,000 high-level military merits.
After careful packaging, it was sent to Professor Clark's laboratory via an interdimensional teleportation array.
After checking the spiritual energy reserves of the plane through the monitor next to him, Jemin couldn't help but grin wildly.
If he could sell all of this spiritual energy, he might be able to raise enough money for another substitute doll.
Of course, Jemin knew that this was purely his own fantasy.
Before he made a name for himself among high-ranking wizards, his biggest customers for spiritual energy were probably his fellow disciples at Norren Workshop.
Then, he opened the Magic Network terminal, which was almost bursting with information.
The first thing to deal with was Blake's continuous "urging" messages.
Jemin had no idea where Black found so many clients; the guy's demand for "liquid gold" seemed endless.
Even though I had prepared enough liquid adamantium for him before this trip, based on the previous consumption rate, Blake had started sending messages last month urging me to order more.
Looking at the order information above, Jieming smiled helplessly.
At this rate of growth, it's estimated that it won't be long before the annual revenue from selling liquid refined gold alone will be on par with the annual revenue from the "self-stabilizing field regulation protocol" technology.
This greatly increases the demand for liquid gold, but fortunately, preparing liquid gold is already a familiar task for him.
He arrived at the automated alchemy plant, adjusted the parameters, and invested resources. Soon, a batch of liquid metal shimmering with flowing golden light was produced. After careful packaging, he sent it to Blake immediately.
Then he saw a carefully worded inquiry from Dean Avery Knight.
It seems that the news of Anton Buchanan's impending promotion is not a top secret within high-level circles.
There was no need for Jemin to hide anything, so he replied with a concise message: "Dean Knight, Master Anton Buchanan has recently been promoted to the eighth level of wizard."
After sending the message, Jemin stopped paying attention to Dean Avery Knight's message and continued processing the various emails on his terminal.
After finishing these trivial but necessary external liaison tasks, Jemin breathed a long sigh of relief.
Instead of resting, he reviewed the daily research reports submitted by the Black Giant Priests and headed straight for the area deep within the laboratory specifically used for research and testing of spatial magic.
His previous exchanges in the Noren 1 plane, his observation of the law rhythms during the strategist's advancement, and his reflections after fighting Rex and others all sparked many new ideas in his mind.
In particular, he had some vague but highly promising ideas about the synergistic use of [Phase Shift] and [Spatial Stability], as well as how to integrate the "spatial stability" property of the mutated spider crystal carapace into his own combat system more deeply.
"Let's buy some more core knowledge first..."
With that in mind, Jemin opened the advanced military merit shopping catalog on the magic network terminal.
...
...
Decades have passed quietly.
In the Infernal Sulfur Plane, inside the core laboratory, Jemin stood before an experimental table covered with intricate runes and energy conduits, intently performing a biological construct surgery.
Several black giant priests, acting as assistants, silently and efficiently delivered tools and recorded data.
Just as he was carefully embedding a miniaturized energy core into the strange creature on the operating table, his movements suddenly paused slightly, and his eyes momentarily glazed over.
"The Overlord?" A black giant priest beside him keenly sensed his unusual behavior and conveyed the question through a low mental fluctuation.
Jemin snapped back to reality, waved his hand, and indicated that he was alright.
But his inner world was far from as calm as it appeared.
Because in that very instant, it was as if some invisible barrier in his mind had been quietly breached.
A more concentrated spiritual power, like a river bursting its banks, naturally and smoothly filled his soul.
There was no earth-shattering energy burst, no unusual phenomenon that triggered external laws, and even the laboratory's energy monitoring instruments did not detect any significant abnormal fluctuations.
In this way, during a break from performing a delicate surgical procedure, he naturally rose to the rank of fourth-level wizard.
'This is... Level 4?' Even Jemin himself was somewhat surprised by his calmness.
Unlike cultivators who often need to go into seclusion and trigger celestial phenomena to break through to higher realms, the advancement of wizards, especially in the lower and middle stages, is more like a natural change after the accumulation of knowledge and the quantitative change in life level reaches a qualitative change.
Once one's mental strength meets the required standard and one's understanding of the laws reaches the corresponding threshold, advancement becomes a natural progression.
Although the promotion was much faster than expected, Jemin was also aware that this advancement did not bring about an immediate surge in strength.
The core of a wizard's power lies in knowledge. The status of a fourth-level wizard simply means that he has the "container" and "authority" to carry more powerful knowledge and construct more complex wizarding models, which is equivalent to unlocking a higher power limit.
However, to convert this upper limit into real combat power, he still needs to invest a lot of time in learning and researching the more profound magical knowledge and techniques that only fourth-level wizards can master.
In terms of individual combat ability, he is currently still at the level of a third-level wizard.
Of course, advancing to the fourth level of wizarding is not without its benefits.
Almost at the same moment his spiritual power completed its leap, Jemin keenly sensed that the nascent soul in his dantian suddenly opened its eyes, and the light it emitted suddenly intensified!
The Qi Refining Method he primarily cultivated was a profound method that used "Qi" as its core to drive the circulation and mutual growth of the three treasures: "Essence," "Qi," and "Spirit."
At this moment, his "spirit" (mental strength and soul power) far surpassed the levels of "essence" (physical blood and qi) and "qi" (spiritual power cultivation) due to his advancement in wizard rank.
This huge gap, under the operation of the Qi Refining Method, formed a powerful pulling force!
An excessively powerful "god" acts like a rapidly spinning core, frantically pulling and driving the relatively lagging "essence" and "qi" to rapidly improve!
Several hundred years had passed since he advanced to the Nascent Soul stage. His cultivation level, which was originally stuck in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul stage, broke through the barrier of the later stage in just a few breaths.
And the growth rate shows no signs of slowing down, soaring all the way towards the peak of the Nascent Soul stage!
Such a rocket-like improvement in cultivation would probably leave other cultivators of the same level in the cultivation world utterly astonished.
But for Jemin, it was simply a positive interaction between two different power systems under specific conditions.
However, at this moment, neither the improvement in wizard level nor the surge in immortal cultivation could fully attract Jemin's attention.
His gaze quickly refocused on the operating table in front of him.
Fixed on the stage is a large "insect" with an extremely bizarre shape.
Or rather, it only retains some of the basic characteristics of insects.
Its most striking feature is the long "horn" on its head, which accounts for more than 90% of its body volume.
The horn has a colorless and transparent crystal texture, with sharp edges and a chilling glint at the edge. Its shape is more like a carefully polished, narrow crystal sword blade!
Its true head and torso, however, were extremely shrunken, curled up at the base of the crystal blade, accounting for only about one-tenth of the total volume.
A pair of disproportionately large compound eyes, like multifaceted gemstones, were set on either side of the shrunken head, gleaming with a cold light.
From a distance, it doesn't look like a living creature at all; it looks more like a crystal weapon with two magnificent gems inlaid at the hilt of a sword!
This is the new type of shuttle, which Jemin has spent decades of his life transforming and upgrading based on the mutated spider snake!
The old shuttle was designed primarily for reconnaissance and harassment.
Although it has the ability to self-destruct, it is indeed too fragile and powerless in the face of the increasingly powerful Black Giant army, and gradually becomes a useless asset.
To compensate for his disadvantages in air combat, naval warfare, and reconnaissance, Jemin decided to give them new life.
"Start performance testing, number '01'," Jemin commanded calmly.
A protective force field rose up on the testing area on one side of the laboratory, and a black giant priest released the "Crystal Blade Chaser" from the operating table.
The body, resembling a "crystal blade," trembled slightly, and in the next second, it blurred in everyone's sight, disappearing silently like an ink droplet merging into water.
Even with his "All-Seeing Eye," Jemin could only barely catch a faint trace of the rapidly moving trajectory within the phase gap.
"Phase concealment activated, energy fluctuations below the threshold, excellent optical invisibility and energy concealment effects," the Black Giant Priest calmly reported.
"Mark the movement trajectory and release the simulated target—Level 4 Energy Shield Generator," Jemin commanded.
In the center of the testing ground, a shield field radiating stable energy light was activated.
Almost at the same instant the shield appeared...
Less than three meters from the shield, space seemed to be torn open by an invisible hand, creating a tiny crack.
The "crystal blade" appeared suddenly at a speed beyond visual perception, its appearance without warning, as if it were part of the space itself!
As it appeared, a visible spatial distortion ripple suddenly spread along the edge of its long, blade-like body!
Hiss—la—
A soft yet sharp sound, like cloth being forcibly torn, rang out!
The energy shield that was strong enough to withstand the barrage of regular level four sorcery was like butter being cut by a hot knife.
Where the spatial distortion ripples swept, an incredibly smooth cut instantly appeared!
The shield structure was forcibly torn apart physically, and after flashing a few times, it shattered with a bang, turning into dissipated energy points!
After delivering this thunderous strike, the "Surveillancer" blurred once more and disappeared back into the phase space.
The entire process was as fast as lightning. From appearing to attacking and then disappearing, the shuttle's figure was like a fleeting phantom.
"Spatial slash complete, target shield destroyed. The effect achieved as expected, demonstrating extremely strong penetrability against energy and material defenses." The Black Giant Priest's record was meticulous.
A look of satisfaction appeared in Jemin's eyes; the test results even exceeded his expectations.
In addition to its high-speed movement, this new type of shuttle was equipped with powerful vision that enhanced its reconnaissance capabilities, and it perfectly inherited the most core talent of the mutated spider snake—its instinctive spatial manipulation ability.
Their spatial abilities are almost identical to those of the mutated spider snakes: they can conceal themselves within phase space, greatly enhancing their survivability and stealth, and can even condense the intense spatial shearing force generated during phase switching to form a deadly [Spatial Slash]!
This has led to a qualitative leap in their lethality, transforming them from a mere tickling nuisance into an assassin's blade capable of posing a fatal threat to defenses of the same or even higher levels!
Of course, limitations also exist.
When moving in phase space, they must suppress their speed to below the speed of sound.
Otherwise, even if they could instinctively adjust their surrounding phase, their excessively violent speed would easily trigger spatial turbulence, tearing them to pieces.
However, for assassination missions that involve stealth, approaching, and then delivering a fatal blow, this speed limitation is still within an acceptable range.
“Very good.” Jemin looked at the space in the test field, which had returned to calm, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly. “From now on, the shuttles will no longer be insignificant cannon fodder.”
They will be specifically designed to eliminate key enemy units, such as commanders, important spellcasters, and energy node guardians... This perfectly complements Jemin's own combat system.
(Something came up, so this is the only chapter for today.)
(End of this chapter)
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