Chapter 330 Contact from an Old Classmate

More than a decade focused on conquering a core technology was, for Jie Ming, merely an ordinary interlude in his long research career.

When he finally set down the energy pen sketching runes and gazed at the utterly transformed creation before him, a natural sense of fulfillment arose.

The pool still bore the old name “incubation pool,” but its intrinsic essence had undergone earth-shaking metamorphosis.

Jie Ming had not only fully digested, absorbed, and optimized the original incubation pool foundation from the lava giant system; more crucially, he successfully inscribed the profound Great Dao Book Pavilion technologies concerning Incense Fire Divine Dao faith condensation, aptitude enhancement, and life information transmission—into the pool’s core rules via wizard runes and alchemical matrices.

The most intuitive enhancement manifested in black giants’ starting point.

Post-transformation incubation pools birthed black giants with vastly elevated initial grade potential—stably reaching at least third-level!

Meaning every newborn black giant emerged from the pool with considerable combat prowess.

Correspondingly, energy consumption per black giant incubated grew geometrically—a voracious energy devourer.

But to Jie Ming, once the seventh-level large elemental pool was installed, this issue would resolve effortlessly.

He held great confidence in that.

Another more fundamental change: the incubation pool gained “self-replication” capability.

By consuming massive energy and specific materials, this master pool could divide, producing fully functional “sub-body” incubation pools.

Scattered across the plane, these sub-pools would dramatically accelerate black giant population expansion.

Combined with black giants’ innate ability—birthing new individuals by casting life-information-core crystal nuclei into specific energy environments—a self-perpetuating, expanding, stable societal structure “servant race” prototype was complete!

“Biological foundation and technical framework ready… now only the critical energy core remains…” Jie Ming unconsciously raked his hair again.

He felt his hairline had faced invisible threats from this energy issue in recent years.

He had no desire to follow his mentor’s “brilliantly bald” path.

Fortunately, intense study pressure wasn’t all bad.

Gnawing through the Seventh-Level Large Elemental Pool Usage Manual had pushed his Body Forging Method’s soul and brain adaptive evolution to new heights.

He clearly sensed his thinking speed, information processing, and memory comprehension efficiency growing daily.

Per current progress estimates, less than a century more would suffice to master this complex technology.

“Move faster, and it’s entirely possible to complete Incense Fire Divine Dao’s core construction before the next mandatory service term…” Jie Ming calculated inwardly.

He even had a strong premonition: given Incense Fire Divine Dao’s rule depth and complexity, personally manifesting it from blueprint to reality—the accumulated, integrated knowledge—could directly propel his Spiritual Qi Law mastery past the critical 0.1%, naturally advancing to third-level wizard!

At that moment, his nearby communicator chimed crisply.

Checking, it was the completion acceptance notice from his hired plane architecture team.

He proceeded to the laboratory’s deep control hub, activating plane-wide monitoring arrays over the Infernal Sulfur plane.

A vast holographic projection unfolded, displaying newly built facility nodes across the plane.

He meticulously inspected every preset transformation zone, confirming energy pathways clear, structures stable, rune inscriptions precise—fully meeting, even exceeding, his blueprint requirements.

“Well done.” Jie Ming nodded satisfied, promptly paying the remaining project balance via magic network terminal.

“Though the seventh-level large elemental pool can’t yet be deployed, relying on existing large elemental pools and plane energy veins, construction of Incense Fire Divine Dao core arrays less dependent on massive external energy can begin…” Jie Ming planned the next step.

Casually opening his military merit account to check balance.

One glance, and his mouth twitched.

“Hiss… didn’t expect accumulated expenses to unknowingly reach this much…”

Though over a billion merits remained—a fortune—per Jie Ming’s precise estimates for remaining materials, fully constructing the complete Incense Fire Divine Dao framework required at least another ten billion merits!

“Looks like decades more accumulation needed, or find other quick revenue channels…” As Jie Ming pondered cost-cutting and income sources, the communicator rang inopportunely again.

He paused slightly, glancing at the screen displaying a somewhat unfamiliar name: Bill Ling Black.

“Who’s this?”

For a moment, Jie Ming felt blank.

The surname-name combination carried faint familiarity, yet he couldn’t immediately retrieve clear imagery or data from memory.

For a wizard with perfect recall as basic ability, this was highly unusual.

No deliberate effort needed—his Body Forging Method’s powerful adaptability activated autonomously.

Soul barriers gently touched by invisible force; faint cognitive interference melted like ice, instantly breached.

Memory gates opened; relevant information surfaced clearly: Bill Ling Black—his same-year classmate at Noren Academy No. 13, soul aptitude prodigiously gifted, directly accepted on-site as direct disciple by a soul-system mentor!

“To subtly obscure my memory perception without detection and long-term reduce his presence… this old classmate’s soul path attainments are not to be underestimated.” Jie Ming marveled, interest piqued.

After the void domain plane’s mysterious white mist and Mycelord mental pollution “tempering,” his soul’s resistance to interference and erosion had evolved considerably.

Yet the other’s methods still affected him—even briefly and mildly—proving exceptional.

Curious why this soul genius, nearly forgotten in memory’s corner, suddenly contacted him?

They had little past interaction.

Brief contemplation later, Jie Ming connected the call.

Projection screen lit, revealing a pale-faced male wizard with eyes deep as ancient wells, wearing black robes bearing the soul school’s distinctive emblem.

He looked at Jie Ming, smiling.

“Hello, Wizard Jie Ming. You might not remember me; I’m actually your…”

“Same-year classmate, soul-system little genius.” Jie Ming smiled, seamlessly continuing, watching surprise flash across Black’s face on-screen. “Truly long time no see, Wizard Black.”

Black was indeed stunned.

He had considerable confidence in his “presence dilution” and “memory deflection” domains.

Even wizards one or two levels higher might not recognize and accurately name him so swiftly and easily.

Yet Jie Ming’s perceived spiritual force fluctuations remained second-level…

Such anomaly, to a soul-specialized wizard, meant one thing—the other possessed instant life-threatening capability!

His initial talent assessment of Jie Ming instantly soared; hesitation from the commission’s specificity vanished.

Black quickly composed surprise, expression gravely solemn. He inhaled deeply, asking gravely.

“I wonder… if Wizard Jie Ming would accept a witch artifact manufacturing commission?”