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Translator: AnubisTL
The heavy door of the quiet chamber closed silently behind him, sealing off the aura of the seventh-tier wizard within.
Jieming stood in the shimmering corridor, letting out a soft breath.
No matter how amiable Dionysius Spencer appeared, the intangible gap in their life levels still exerted an indescribable pressure.
After walking only a few steps, he spotted the first-tier wizards.
They hadn't left, but were huddled at the end of the corridor, whispering excitedly, their faces glowing with barely suppressed elation.
Seeing Jieming emerge, they immediately surrounded him, their eyes brimming with gratitude and even a hint of awe.
"Lord Jieming!" the lead wizard greeted respectfully, clutching a crystal vial tightly in his hand. Within the vial, a strand of radiant light flowed slowly—the source of their joy and excitement.
Dionysius Spencer, true to his status as a seventh-tier wizard, had been remarkably generous, bestowing upon each wizard a strand of plane origin.
"We owe you everything! Without you, we wouldn't have had this incredible opportunity, let alone our lives..."
The other wizards echoed his sentiments, their gratitude overflowing.
For these wizards struggling at the bottom of society, the origin light in their hands was like a lighthouse in the darkness—a beacon of hope for changing their fate.
In theory, wizards could take out loans to purchase origin and advance, but in reality, many didn't even qualify for such loans.
Aside from a fortunate few who could quickly accumulate enough military merits to buy a strand of origin or demonstrate sufficient potential to attract investment, most low-rank wizards died on the road to conquest planes long before they could gather enough merits.
Now, with this pure strand of origin, they saw a glimmer of hope for reaching the third-tier threshold.
In the perilous realm of planar conquest, such an opportunity was nothing short of defying fate.
Jieming nodded calmly. "You deserve this. After all, you chose to return with me rather than take other paths."
His words carried a deeper meaning, reminding the wizards of the perilous situation they had faced. A wave of lingering fear washed over them.
Indeed, given the circumstances, if Jieming had been ruthless, he could have sacrificed them and Levin Mills as offerings to exchange for the plane origin, and no one would have known.
Several wizards' lips moved silently, as if they were about to seize the opportunity to request contact information.
Forming an alliance with such a powerful, influential, and principled genius would undoubtedly be immensely beneficial for their future.
But when they recalled Jieming's composed demeanor before the seventh-tier wizard, and the vast disparity in their strength and potential, their courage quickly evaporated.
In the end, they simply offered another sincere thank you before departing, their hearts filled with both excitement and a hint of regret.
Jieming watched their retreating figures, his gaze piercing through their thoughts like a flame through dry leaves.
He didn't mind establishing connections with promising low-rank wizards; after all, the wizard's path was long, and every friend meant another road.
But since they lacked even the courage to try, he naturally wouldn't lower himself to make the first move.
Those who walk different paths cannot conspire together. Without even this basic courage to strive, their future circles were destined to diverge.
His thoughts soon returned to Dionysius Spencer's seemingly casual remark:
"An appetizer before the main course..." The phrase lingered in his mind, each word weighed and examined.
Though brief, the implication was staggering.
Could this resource-rich Void Domain Plane merely be a pre-dinner snack for higher-level beings?
What, then, would the true "main course" be?
A chill ran down Jieming's spine, but he quickly suppressed these unsettling thoughts.
As he suspected, delving into such matters prematurely with his current strength would be futile and might even attract unnecessary trouble.
His immediate priority was to digest his recent gains and ensure he possessed sufficient self-defense capabilities for future explorations.
This expedition had yielded a remarkable bounty.
Twenty strands of pure origin refined by a seventh-tier wizard were far more valuable than naturally occurring origin, equivalent to two hundred million military merits.
Even for Jieming, this windfall was substantial.
Although the patent for his "Self-Stabilizing Field Regulation Protocol" continued to generate revenue, its growth had slowed significantly in recent years, likely soon reaching his projected annual income of one hundred million military merits.
In just two months, he had effectively earned two years' worth of income.
Moreover, this calculation excluded the rare creatures captured and special resources gathered during the expedition, whose research value was incalculable.
The mutated spider-snake alone, if Jieming chose to sell it, would likely tempt even fourth- and fifth-tier wizards.
Before venturing deeper into the Void Domain Plane, Jieming believed it was crucial to prioritize enhancing his survival capabilities.
The plane's absurdly dense wind element caused pervasive space distortions, a danger he had already experienced firsthand.
Without effective early warning and protective measures, exploring these distorted regions would be like a blind man riding a lame horse.
He pulled out his magic net terminal and quickly browsed the latest announcements and resource lists from the Wizard Camp.
A piece of good news immediately caught his eye: Space Fluctuation Detection Wizard Artifacts, previously either unavailable or strictly controlled, were now officially available for exchange to all wizards participating in the exploration. By paying the corresponding military merits, they could be claimed at the Affairs Center.
This was clearly the camp's response to the growing demand for exploring areas with increasing space distortions.
Although knowledge of spatial rules required at least a third-tier wizard to grasp, limiting the production of these artifacts, the camp subsidized their cost to encourage exploration, making them relatively affordable—just ten thousand military merits.
While this sum was considerable for an individual, it was manageable for a well-equipped wizard squad to pool their resources.
Once equipped, exploration efficiency and safety would dramatically increase, with returns far exceeding the investment.
Jieming immediately headed to the Affairs Center. Using his identification and military merits, he smoothly exchanged them with an alchemy puppet for a palm-sized Space Fluctuation Detector shaped like a compass.
He immediately injected mental power to activate it.
A faint glow lit up at the compass's center, and a cool stream of energy flowed into his eyes.
His vision instantly transformed. The previously invisible space now appeared to him as subtle "wrinkles" and "ripples."
After a brief assessment, Jieming realized that while the device couldn't analyze deep-level rule information like his Universal Eye, it could clearly delineate the boundaries between stable and distorted spatial regions in the most intuitive way.
Moreover, with minimal information load, it could be sustained indefinitely.
"A useful tool," Jieming nodded in satisfaction.
This was essentially a simplified, perpetually active spatial vision aid, invaluable for large-scale patrols and avoiding dangerous areas.
Leaving the Affairs Center, he returned to the central plaza of the floating city.
Compared to two months ago, the area was even more bustling, with a noticeable increase in the number of wizards setting up stalls.
Materials and simple spell artifacts related to spatial attributes, previously rare sights, were now appearing on the stalls.
Though their quality varied, all were priced exorbitantly.
Clearly, rumors of the abundant resources within the space distortion region had spread widely, fueling the wizards' enthusiasm for exploration.
Jieming blended into the crowd, silently listening to the wizards' conversations, gathering information about the varying levels of danger in different regions, resource distribution, and even unverified rumors.
Simultaneously, using his magic net terminal, he quickly locked onto and accepted a mission to explore an unknown biological community.
The area was located at the edge of a newly discovered large-scale spatial fold. Preliminary scans suggested the existence of a unique ecosystem with significant research value, perfectly aligning with his needs.
"Before that master's 'main course' begins, I need to stockpile enough 'provisions' as quickly as possible," Jieming murmured to himself. His figure transformed into a streak of light as he flew without hesitation from the floating city, hurtling toward the unknown territory marked for his mission.
(End of the Chapter)
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