Translator: AnubisTL
A few days later, at Noren Academy No. 13.
Jieming had received a message from Mentor Clark a few days prior. The message was concise, instructing him to report to a designated location in the academy district at a specified time.
Thus, after wrapping up his experiments, Jieming crossed through the teleportation formation and returned to the academy for the first time in a long while.
On the way, a familiar figure caught his eye.
"Jieming!" Senior Viola still maintained her usual elegant demeanor.
However, the moment she saw Jieming, her composure crumbled. She rushed over in a few quick strides, an eyebrow slightly raised. "You received the old man's message too?"
Jieming's eyelid twitched. "You've gotten so bold, haven't you? You're even calling Mentor that now?"
"Hah! I'm a fully qualified sixth-tier wizard now. Even the old man can't just lecture me whenever he feels like it!" Viola elegantly tossed her silver-gray hair, though her words were anything but elegant.
"Mentor just looks a bit bald, not necessarily old..." Jieming couldn't help but mutter.
"So that's what you're focused on? Seems like you've got a rebellious streak just like me! How about it? Want to team up and form an 'Anti-Old-Man Alliance'?"
"Ah, no! I'll pass!"
Jieming silently dodged Viola's arm as she tried to drape it over his shoulder.
Viola immediately put on a heartbroken expression. "Are you really going to betray me too?"
"..."
Jieming silently scooted two more steps away, terrified she'd splatter blood all over him.
After a brief exchange of banter, they finally turned their attention to the matter at hand.
Jieming answered Viola's original question: "Mentor Clark did ask me to come here, but he didn't give any details in the message."
The message from Mentor Clark had been a text communication, not a video call.
Furthermore, the requested location wasn't his usual office, but a conference room with an unfamiliar number. This in itself felt unusual.
"Strange," Viola said, stroking her chin with an inquisitive look. "Since when did the old man learn to be so cryptic? He wouldn't say a single extra word in the message. That's not like him at all."
Just as Jieming was about to nod in agreement, a flash of insight struck him.
He recalled the crisis in the Giant Spirit Realm not long ago, when Wizard Noren had descended like a divine being.
According to the information Jieming had, Wizard Noren, as a powerful eighth-tier existence, should have been fighting alongside that ninth-tier wizard on the frontlines, battling the enemy's main forces. Even if they had sent a distress signal, the standard reinforcements would have been eighth-tier wizards on rotation.
Conversely, Wizard Noren's arrival as reinforcement meant he had already left the battlefield. If he were on rotation, it seemed a bit too early in terms of timing.
An eighth-tier wizard would never leave the core battlefield without a good reason.
Wizard Noren's personal return itself implied that the situation on the frontlines might have changed. Or... there was a new, extremely high-priority mission that required a powerhouse of his level to return and handle personally.
"Hmm?" Viola keenly caught Jieming's momentary pause and thoughtful expression. She immediately became interested and nudged him gently with her elbow. "Junior, you look like... you know some inside information? Come on, share it with your senior sister!"
Jieming pondered for a moment, decided there was no need to keep it a secret, and briefly recounted his chance encounter with Wizard Noren in the Giant Spirit Realm.
"Wizard Noren? That legendary Excellency is back?" Viola's eyes instantly lit up, as if two flames of curiosity had been ignited within them.
Before Jieming could even finish, she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him forward. "What are we dawdling for? Let's go, let's go! We might even see the True Lord in person!"
"The Noren Workshop has over a hundred and forty academies. How could we possibly see the True Lord in person...?"
Jieming was dragged along like a kite caught in the wind. He sighed helplessly and could only let her lead the way.
This senior sister's decisiveness was always so "exceptional."
Following the communication guide, they arrived at the designated conference room.
Pushing open the heavy doors, Jieming's gaze swept across the room, and his heart stirred slightly.
The interior of the conference room had clearly been enchanted with advanced space expansion techniques. The space inside was astonishingly vast, large enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people without feeling crowded.
And it was already filled with many wizards.
Scanning the room, Jieming recognized a few familiar faces, but most were strangers.
The majority of the attendees were low-rank wizards of the second and third tiers, their expressions a mix of bewilderment and anticipation. A few higher-ranking wizards were also present, but their mental power fluctuations were unstable, suggesting they had only recently advanced.
The figures seated in the very front row, however, were all too familiar to Jieming—the mentors who had taught them at Noren Academy. Among them was Mentor Clark, still slightly balding and stern-faced, engaged in a low-voiced conversation with another mentor.
It seems the assembly is about to begin, Jieming realized.
He and Viola approached the front row and bowed respectfully to Mentor Clark.
Clark glanced up at them, offering a slight nod. His voice was calm and devoid of emotion. "Ah, you've arrived. Find a seat anywhere."
Despite his words, the wizards in the conference room were already seating themselves according to an unspoken rule: from front to back, arranged roughly by their rank.
Jieming was long accustomed to this. Such reverential hierarchy toward knowledge and power was ingrained in the very marrow of the wizard world.
He walked quietly to the area where the second-tier wizards gathered and took an inconspicuous seat.
After they left, Oswald, the former Soul Branch mentor who had been sitting next to Clark, leaned in.
Watching Jieming and Viola depart, his voice held undisguised envy. "Clark, those two students of yours are truly remarkable. In just how many years has Viola already reached the sixth tier? And that Jieming is even more extraordinary—he's clearly only a second-tier wizard, yet I can actually sense a threat emanating from him... Tsk, you must be so proud to be their mentor."
Mentor Clark glanced at him, his expression remaining impassive. He merely gave a soft "Hmph" through his nose in response.
But the slight relaxation at the corner of his mouth seemed to betray a trace of imperceptible satisfaction.
Viola followed Jieming to the seat he had chosen but didn't sit down immediately.
She bent over with a playful grin, winking mischievously at Jieming. "My dear junior, you just stay put right here~ Senior Sister is heading to the front!"
Jieming was well aware of his senior sister's mischievous streak. Unfazed, he simply nodded calmly. "Go ahead, Senior."
Seeing his flat reaction, Viola deflated like a punctured balloon and let out a dramatic sigh of disappointment.
Shoulders slumped, she trudged toward the front area reserved for high-rank wizards and slumped into an empty seat.
Soon, the conference room doors slowly swung shut, and no more wizards entered.
The low murmurs in the hall gradually died down as all eyes turned toward the stage at the front.
Bzz...
Amidst a faint hum, a crisp holographic projection flickered to life above the stage.
A figure coalesced from mist to solid form—it was Wizard Noren, his expression gentle, his eyes as deep as a starry sea.
"I am Noren," he announced. His voice wasn't loud, yet it reached every wizard in the room with unmistakable authority.
The hall immediately erupted into a suppressed stir. The low-rank wizards, in particular, had faces etched with excitement and awe.
Many of them had grown up hearing legends of Wizard Noren. And now, this legendary eighth-tier wizard had actually appeared before them—even if only as a projection.
The high-level wizards in the front row also wore expressions of awe. After all, the higher one's level, the more clearly they understood the vast disparity between different tiers.
It was not just a gap in strength, but an abyss in intelligence and research capability!
Wizard Noren paid no heed to the reaction below and cut straight to the point, his tone decisive: "I have returned to carry out the Star Ring Federation's supreme decree."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across the entire field as if piercing through everyone's souls. "To counter the increasingly complex situation in the chaotic void, the Federation has decided to officially launch the 'Elite Cultivation Program.' Starting today, the first batch of elite combat units will be formed, with the core members of each wizard faction as its primary components."
Jieming's heart stirred. Just as I thought!
"Over the years, the various academies of the Noren Workshop have accumulated a large number of high-quality talents through the Elite Trial. Now, the time has come for them to truly be put to use," Wizard Noren's voice held no emotion.
"Before you are fully grown, you will be deployed to the second-line battlefield. The enemies there may not be as powerful as those the frontline legions encounter, but they are often more bizarre and troublesome—the perfect whetstone to sharpen your skills."
He then briefly mentioned some changes regarding the deployment of high-level wizards and the allocation of resources, but these were clearly not relevant to Jieming's current level.
Jieming's attention was now completely focused on the keywords "elite party" and "second-line battlefield."
His mind raced as he began to analyze the situation calmly.
The second-line battlefield was undoubtedly safer than the front lines.
But "more troublesome" meant higher uncertainty; conventional methods might not suffice.
However, in terms of safety alone, it should be guaranteed—perhaps even safer than the rear battlefields?
After all, while the rear battlefields were for mopping up remnants, the wizards in command there wouldn't be very high-level.
In contrast, the second-line battlefield would definitely have eighth-tier wizards stationed there.
Given the wizards' operational patterns, they would eliminate all obvious ninth-tier enemies on the front lines.
Therefore, with a cap on the enemy's level, the presence of eighth-tier wizards would significantly enhance the safety of the second-line battlefield.
Besides, my colleagues there will be selected elites, so they should be stronger...
While Wizard Noren's projection continued to elaborate on the specific selection criteria, resource allocation, and preliminary arrangements, Jieming was already planning his next research schedule in his mind.
(End of the Chapter)
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