Translator: AnubisTL
For Jieming, dedicating over a decade to a single core technology was merely a brief interlude in his long research career.
As he finally set down the energy pen he had been using to trace runes and looked up at the transformed creation before him, a profound sense of accomplishment washed over him.
The pool still bore its old name, "Hatchery," but its fundamental nature had undergone a complete metamorphosis.
Jieming had not only fully assimilated and optimized the original hatchery design from the Lava Giant System but, more crucially, he had successfully integrated the arcane techniques from the Great Dao Library Pavilion—those concerning the condensation of faith in the Incense Divine Path, aptitude enhancement, and the transmission of life information—into the pool's core rules using wizard runes and alchemical matrices.
The most immediate improvement was evident in the Black Giants' starting point.
The modified hatchery now produced Black Giants with significantly higher initial level potential, all of whom could reliably reach at least the third tier.
This meant that every newly born Black Giant would possess formidable combat power the moment it emerged from the pool.
Of course, the corresponding cost was an exponential increase in the energy required to hatch each Black Giant, transforming the process into a veritable energy-devouring beast.
However, Jieming believed this problem would be completely solved once the [seventh-tier large elemental pool] was successfully installed. He held immense confidence in this.
Another, more fundamental change was that the hatchery itself had acquired the ability of "self-replication."
By consuming vast amounts of energy and specific materials, this main hatchery could split and produce fully functional "offspring" hatcheries. These sub-pools, scattered across the plane, would drastically accelerate the expansion of the Black Giant Tribe.
Combined with the Black Giants' innate ability to give birth to new individuals by placing central crystal core—which contained life information—into a specific energy environment, the prototype of a "servant race" capable of self-perpetuation, expansion, and forming a stable social structure was now complete!
"The biological foundation and technical framework are ready... now all that's missing is the most critical part: the energy core..." Jieming subconsciously scratched his head again.
He felt as if his hairline had been under an invisible threat in recent years, all because of this energy problem.
He certainly didn't want to follow in the "brilliant" footsteps of his mentor.
Fortunately, the intense academic pressure wasn't entirely a bad thing.
In his struggle to master the Seventh-Tier Large Elemental Pool User Manual, his Body Tempering Method had pushed his soul and brain to new heights of adaptive evolution.
He could clearly feel his thinking speed, information processing capabilities, and memory comprehension efficiency improving day by day.
Based on his current progress, he estimated it would take less than a hundred years to fully master this complex technique.
If I hurry, I might even finish the core construction of the Incense Divine Path before the next Mandatory Military Service deadline... Jieming calculated.
He even had a strong premonition: given the depth and complexity of the rules involved in the Incense Divine Path, the knowledge he would accumulate and synthesize while turning the blueprint into reality could directly push his mastery of the "Spiritual Qi Law" past that critical 0.1% threshold. This would naturally pave the way for his advancement to a third-tier wizard!
Just then, the communicator beside him emitted a crisp notification chime.
Jieming checked the message. It was a completion notice from the plane construction team he had hired.
He went to the control center deep within the laboratory and activated the monitoring array that covered the entire Purgatory Sulfur Plane.
A massive three-dimensional projection unfolded, displaying the newly constructed facility nodes across the plane.
He carefully inspected every pre-set modification area, confirming that the energy conduits were clear, the structures were stable, and the rune inscriptions were precise—fully meeting, and even exceeding, his blueprint's requirements.
"Good work," Jieming nodded in satisfaction. Through the magic net terminal, he promptly paid the remaining balance for the project.
"Although the seventh-tier large elemental pool cannot be put into use immediately, relying on the existing large elemental pools and the planar energy network, I can now begin constructing some of the core formation arrays for the Incense Divine Path that aren't as dependent on massive external energy sources..." Jieming planned his next move.
On a whim, he opened his Military Merit Account to check the balance.
At the sight of it, his lips couldn't help but twitch.
"Hiss... I didn't realize all these piecemeal expenses had added up to so much..."
Although his account still held over a billion military merits—a staggering sum by any standard—Jieming's precise calculations for the remaining construction materials revealed a grim reality: fully establishing the Incense Divine Path framework would require at least ten billion more.
Looks like I'll have to save up for another few decades, or find a quicker way to make money...
As Jieming was deep in thought, trying to devise a plan to increase his income and cut expenses, his communicator chimed again at the most inopportune moment.
He paused, glancing at the screen. A slightly unfamiliar name was displayed: Bill L. Black.
Who is that?
For a moment, Jieming was utterly bewildered.
The combination of the surname and given name felt vaguely familiar, yet he couldn't instantly retrieve a clear image or any specific information from his memory.
For a wizard with a photographic memory, this was an extraordinary anomaly.
Without him even needing to consciously activate it, the powerful adaptive ability granted by the Body Tempering Method sprang into action.
The soul barrier seemed to be gently touched by an invisible force, and the faint interference on his cognitive level melted away like snow, instantly shattered.
The floodgates of memory swung open, and the relevant information surfaced with startling clarity: Bill L. Black—the very same classmate from his year at Noren Academy No. 13, the one who had shown such extraordinary innate talent during the Soul Aptitude Test that a Soul-type Mentor had taken him as a personal disciple on the spot!
To think he could subtly obscure my memory perception without me noticing and suppress his presence for so long... It seems this old classmate's attainments on the Soul Path over the years are not to be underestimated, Jieming mused, a flicker of genuine interest igniting within him.
After all, his soul had been "tempered" by the mysterious white mist of the Void Domain Plane and the mental pollution of the Fungal Lord, evolving its resistance to all forms of interference and erosion to an incredibly high level.
For the other's methods to have any effect on him at all—even if only briefly and faintly—was proof enough of his extraordinary skill.
He was curious. Why would this Soul Branch genius, someone who had practically vanished from the corners of his memory, suddenly reach out to him?
They had never been particularly close in the past.
After a brief moment of thought, Jieming decided to accept the communication.
The projection screen flickered to life, revealing a wizard in the black robes of the Soul Branch. His face was pale, but his eyes were as deep and still as an ancient well.
He looked at Jieming and offered a faint smile. "Hello, Wizard Jieming. You might not remember me. I'm actually your—"
"A classmate from my year, the little genius of the Soul Branch," Jieming interrupted with a smile, his voice smooth as he watched the flash of surprise cross Black's face on the screen. "It's been a long time, Wizard Black."
Black was indeed stunned.
He had complete confidence in his "Presence Fading" and "Memory Deflection" domains. Even wizards one or two tiers higher than him couldn't usually recognize and name him so quickly and easily.
Yet Jieming's mental power fluctuations still registered at the second-tier level...
To a wizard who specialized in the soul, such an anomaly meant only one thing: his opponent possessed the ability to threaten his life in an instant.
Black's assessment of Jieming's innate talent soared to a new height. The hesitation he'd felt over the unusual nature of his request vanished completely.
Quickly composing himself, Black's expression turned grave. He took a deep breath and asked solemnly, "Wizard Jieming... would you be willing to accept a commission to craft a spell artifact?"
(End of the Chapter)
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