Chapter 315: Strategy and Unexpected Developments

Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Beyond the world barrier of the Giant Spirit Realm, the energy turbulence of the chaotic void surged endlessly.

Jie Ming hovered in a relatively stable airspace, carefully embedding the final metal substrate—engraved with billions of runes—into a composite structure vast enough to encircle a small planet.

As the mental energy flowing from his fingertips completed the final activation and calibration, the lines of the enormous array lit up one by one.

A deep blue light traced complex geometric patterns in the void, then swiftly faded, leaving only faint ripples of spatial fluctuation.

Jie Ming sent a brief message through his portable magic network terminal.

Soon after, a level-1 wizard in standard gray robes arrived swiftly on a delicately structured anti-gravity flyer.

The level-1 wizard stopped before Jie Ming and performed a standard wizard salute with respect: “Lord Jie Ming.”

Jie Ming nodded slightly in return, gesturing to the seemingly empty void behind him, now enveloped by the massive array’s force field: “Sector 73, void anchoring and information shielding composite array—installation and debugging complete. Requesting inspection.”

The level-1 wizard did not dare delay. He immediately retrieved a multi-probe scanner of the flyer and conducted a full-range scan of the designated area.

The device emitted a faint hum as data streams scrolled rapidly across its screen.

Moments later, he shut down the scanner, saluted Jie Ming again, and affirmed: “Confirmed correct. The array is operating stably, with parameters meeting design requirements. Thank you for your hard work, Lord Jie Ming. The task is complete.”

Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction and said no more.

His figure transformed into a streak of light, flying toward a wizard fortress in the distance—a metallic mountain range suspended in the chaotic void.

Over these three years, the annihilation campaign against the Triangular Plane Cluster had revolved around the second phase of strategic operations.

The second phase had two core objectives.

The first was the “cleansing” missions that Jie Ming had previously undertaken and that most mid- and low-tier wizards were currently executing: systematically clearing all cities, strongholds, and industrial facilities in the Giant Spirit Realm, physically destroying the enemy’s war potential and vital forces.

Beyond weakening the enemy directly, this operation’s greater strategic significance lay in firmly drawing the Triangular Plane Cluster’s attention, providing cover for a far more covert action.

The Wizard Civilization’s goal was the complete annihilation of all civilizations in the Triangular Plane Cluster, yet those civilizations already possessed inter-plane colonization capabilities.

Thus, the command deliberately prolonged the war’s timeline, creating the illusion of “relentless pressure, yet requiring time to consolidate.”

The purpose was to lure back the Triangular Plane powerhouses and legions scattered across external colonial planes or on expeditionary missions, ensnaring them all in one net.

At the same time, specialist wizards skilled in stealth, disguise, and information theft had been active over these three years, silently gathering coordinates of the many external planes conquered or controlled by the Triangular Plane Cluster.

The second operation was the “insurance” built upon these premises:

Led personally by the level-7 wizard Oboros, who had remained stationed in the void, and supported by over ten level-6 wizards and vast resources, a super-massive composite array was secretly constructed in the expansive void surrounding the Triangular Plane Cluster.

This array had one purpose: to completely seal the void region containing the Triangular Plane Cluster.

It would sever all possible stable or temporary world passages to external planes, fundamentally eliminating any chance for the three world lords to escape with their civilization’s seeds or core assets if the situation turned dire.

What Jie Ming had just completed was an insignificant node in this grand sealing network.

Using the spatial teleportation array inside the fortress, Jie Ming returned to a temporary research camp in the occupied zone of the Giant Spirit Realm.

He headed straight to the laboratory assigned to him.

Over the past two-plus years, the wizards had not relaxed their research amid ongoing military operations.

Beyond continuously refining targeted methods against the Giant Spirit Realm’s natives, comprehensive studies on the natives of the other two target planes—“Mind Realm” and “Proliferation Realm”—had long been underway.

Jie Ming first approached one side of the laboratory, where a precision energy containment field generator stood.

At the center of the field, a humanoid energy entity constantly shifting in color and outline flickered weakly, on the verge of collapse.

This was a native sample from the Mind Realm—a lifeform condensed purely from mental energy.

Mind Realm beings were innately skilled in thought interference and illusion construction, their civilization built upon complex mental networks and mind control.

Jie Ming pulled up the experiment log and scanned it expressionlessly.

He had attempted to develop a mental virus capable of eroding and disrupting such pure mental structures.

However, reviewing the recorded data fluctuations and the sample’s responses, Jie Ming shook his head helplessly.

“Still no good…” he muttered to himself.

Despite investing significant effort, his foundation in mental witchcraft was indeed lacking.

The disease he named “Thought Collapse” showed negligible effects even after ten days of continuous infection on the sample—far from combat-ready standards.

It was essentially a failure for his Mind Realm research project.

Yet Jie Ming felt little disappointment.

Research was a process of trial and error, and the camp housed many wizards skilled in this field.

They had already submitted several effective witchcrafts or weapons targeting the Mind Realm; the wheels of war would not halt for his single failure.

More importantly, even failed research yielded vast observational data—valuable knowledge in itself.

After setting the Mind Realm sample’s experiment area to long-term observation mode, Jie Ming frowned slightly as if recalling something, then turned to another section of the laboratory.

The scene here was entirely different.

Neat rows of independent transparent energy cages held creatures of varied forms, seemingly unrelated.

There were massive insect-like beasts covered in thick chitin armor; soft-bodied creatures with smooth skin and multiple sensory tentacles; vibrant-feathered avians capable of firing high-pressure energy beams; even bizarre half-plant, half-animal existences…

Their sole commonality: all originated from the most mysterious plane in the Triangular Plane Cluster—the Proliferation Realm.

According to intelligence from infiltrating spies and frontline reconnaissance, the Proliferation Realm was an extraordinarily unique place.

It seemed to lack a “civilization” in the conventional sense—an utterly primitive world of the weak falling prey to the strong, teeming with diverse species.

Yet every “wild animal” there possessed outrageous strength.

Most bizarrely, both the Giant Spirit Realm and Mind Realm had records of wars against the Proliferation Realm.

Upon invasion, these creatures—natural predators of one another—would instantly set aside instincts, unite into armies, and fight in coordination.

What alarmed the wizards most: no matter the technology or power used by invaders, after one battle in the Proliferation Realm, the creatures would collectively evolve targeted organs, abilities, or resistances by the next invasion!

After analysis, many veteran wizards proposed a stunning hypothesis: the entire Proliferation Realm might be a singular entity!

Not a precious living plane, but quite possibly all life on the plane was “one.”

The so-called “Mycelord” was not an independent individual but the very body of that world lord.

Or rather, every creature in the Proliferation Realm was a part of the “Mycelord”!

This “Mycelord” was likely an ultimate biological aggregate that endlessly devoured, fused, and evolved its components.

It was, in itself, a biological catastrophe sweeping the entire plane.

Jie Ming was deeply fascinated by the Proliferation Realm.

Its traits reminded him of “Zerg” or “gene devourers” from certain fantasy works of his previous life.

If he could unravel its internal evolution and unified coordination mechanisms, he might greatly optimize his “nest,” freeing it from its current awkward positioning and limited potential.

Yet ideals were plump, reality skeletal.

Jie Ming gazed at the powerful yet seemingly no different from ordinary extraordinary magical beasts in the cages and sighed helplessly.

“Where exactly is the problem?” he pondered.

“Too few captured samples to trigger group evolution? Or… does this miraculous evolution and coordination require the Proliferation Realm’s unique environment… or direct coverage by the ‘Mycelord’s’ consciousness network to function?”

Either way, his current research conditions were insufficient, stalling his study of Proliferation Realm creatures’ evolution mechanisms.

After processing the laboratory’s backlog of data and reviewing future research plans, Jie Ming began considering his next moves.

Per the Wizard Command’s original strategic blueprint, the third phase’s core objective was to swiftly crush the Giant Spirit Realm’s remaining organized resistance and ultimately suppress or capture its world lord—Korg.

Speed was key!

They had to seize control of the Giant Spirit Realm’s plane origin before the Triangular Plane Cluster’s other two world lords—“Mind Realm’s” Sylas and “Proliferation Realm’s” Mycelord—fully realized the Giant Spirit Realm’s impending fall or could react in sync!

This hinged on a unique property of the plane cluster.

With the three planes tightly interlinked in a triangular structure, their plane origins deeply influenced and balanced one another.

Simply put, if one world lord attempted to trigger their plane origin for a suicidal “plane detonation,”

As long as one of the other two disagreed or interfered, the detonation could not complete instantly—there would be a delayed, obstructed process.

This gave the Wizard Civilization a critical operational window.

Once they swiftly took the Giant Spirit Realm and controlled its origin, the wizards could use it as a fulcrum to methodically gather forces and suppress the remaining two worlds.

After all, the annihilation campaign aimed to eliminate potential threats, not mere destruction.

The knowledge, technology, and unique resources accumulated by the Triangular Plane Cluster over countless years were spoils the Wizard Civilization coveted.

Utterly obliterating the planes was always the last resort.

“Now, the peripheral void seal should be nearly complete. Most of the Giant Spirit Realm’s scattered forces and colonial legions have been lured back, and the coordinates of conquered planes must be mostly collected…” Jie Ming calculated inwardly.

“Then, the command’s decision to launch the third phase’s final battle should come soon.”

He planned silently: “Once the third phase’s main battles end and high-level forces engage the other two world lords, I could apply to join the final cleansing of colonial planes controlled by the Giant Spirit Realm and Mind Realm.”

“Earn military merits while collecting those planes’ unique biological samples and resources to enrich my database and material reserves…”

As his thoughts wandered through future plans, the magic network terminal beside the experiment table suddenly emitted a sharp, urgent buzz!

A blood-red highest-priority alert flashed on the screen!

“Emergency assembly order! All combat units, immediately converge at designated coordinates!”

Jie Ming’s pupils contracted. He sprang from his chair!

Without hesitation, he grabbed the terminal and shot out of the laboratory like an arrow from a bowstring.

Outside, the corridor was in uproar.

Many logistics wizards mid-research rushed out, faces shocked, exchanging bewildered glances.

No one asked questions. All followed the terminal’s indicated routes, sprinting toward the nearest assembly point outside the camp.

Through the camp’s emergency short-range teleportation arrays, Jie Ming’s vision blurred, and he arrived at a grim frontline outpost.

Steadying himself, his gaze swept forward beyond the outpost—and he was profoundly shaken by the sight.

On the distant horizon, sky and earth seemed shrouded by boundless dark clouds!

But these were no natural clouds—an immense army of countless Giant Spirit Realm warships, war beasts, and varied servant legions!

They packed densely like a flood of metal and flesh, slowly forming an unprecedented formation.

The murderous aura they exuded was suffocating even from afar.

“What’s happening?!” Jie Ming blurted, turning to a management wizard rapidly distributing combat orders nearby.

The wizard glanced up at Jie Ming and answered swiftly:

“No specific details, but command just received the highest alert. Korg has gone mad for some reason. In any case, the decisive battle… has begun ahead of schedule!”