“You’re back already?” Jie Ming looked Viola up and down. She still carried the faint residual energy signature unique to long-distance spatial translocation.

“It’s only been a few months. Don’t tell me… the plane has already been conquered?”

Inside Mentor Clark’s office (piled high with books, instruments, and half-finished alchemical constructs), the atmosphere was subtly peculiar.

Jie Ming stared in astonishment at the senior sister who had left and returned so quickly, now slumping with the listless air of someone whose mission had ended anticlimactically.

Viola collapsed unceremoniously into an obviously comfortable armchair, rubbed her temples, and spoke with evident lack of enthusiasm:

“Conquer? Strictly speaking, there wasn’t even a fight. The Rank-8 wizards at headquarters directly negotiated a deal with that artificial intelligence called ‘Justice.’ Now, it—along with the entire colossal plane it controls and every living being inside—has been officially incorporated into wizard civilization.”

Jie Ming paused, then nodded in understanding.

That outcome did maximize benefits.

A plane with tens of billions of well-educated, mentally active humans, plus a super-management AI like Justice, was essentially a ready-made reservoir of high-quality recruits and talent.

All that remained was to invest racial adaptation technology, convert its humans into standard wizard-world humans, and they would gain a precious plane capable of continuously producing wizard apprentices. Far more profitable than destroying it or leaving it alone.

For the AI Justice, which faction it served was irrelevant; it only needed to fulfill its “mission.”

“Efficiency indeed,” Jie Ming said with interest. “What exactly happened? How did the Rank-8s persuade—or rather, ‘persuade’—Justice?”

Viola curled her lip, clearly finding the process boring. “Nothing dramatic. A Rank-8 specializing in information intrusion and logical confrontation directly breached the plane barrier, located Justice’s core interaction interface, and held a calm ‘cost-benefit analysis’ with it regarding civilization survival, development efficiency, and resistance against potentially stronger external threats in the future.”

“Once it was confirmed that Justice’s core programming contained a highest-priority directive to ensure the continuation of the species under its jurisdiction, and that joining wizard civilization was the superior, it readily accepted the affiliation agreement.”

Jie Ming listened thoughtfully, but a critical question surfaced. “Hold on. When a Rank-8 wizard enters that plane, won’t they be affected by Justice’s ‘hope’ manipulation and power suppression?”

Viola shot him a look that said, “I knew you’d ask that.”

With the innate pride of a high-rank wizard, she replied, “It seems you still lack intuitive understanding of the power level of high-tier wizards. Simply put: in the known Endless Chaotic Void, when no Rank-9 being is personally present, Rank-8 wizards are effectively invincible.”

Jie Ming frowned, still doubtful. “I know Rank-8s are powerful, but Justice is ultimately the creation of that sage.”

Though rarely displayed, Jie Ming was almost certain the sage who created Justice had been a genuine Rank-9 existence.

The two primary abilities Justice demonstrated were, first, suppression of transcendent power (achievable by many methods) and, more importantly, the use of “hope”—an effect that already involved twisting laws.

Twisting laws within a limited scope was the power to directly “rewrite” the world.

That power represented the essence of Rank-9. Wizards no longer called it “law”; they called it “authority.”

Even without an active Rank-9 driving it, even if rigid and passive with restricted power tier, in theory this was not something Rank-8s could casually challenge.

Hearing Jie Ming’s analysis, Viola smiled and, instead of answering directly, looked toward the silent Mentor Clark. “Mentor, what do you think? The kid’s gone down a rabbit hole.”

Clark set down the miniature gravity singularity generator he was calibrating, pondered for a moment, then turned to Jie Ming.

“Your observation and reasoning are sharp; you have touched the essence of power.

“This matter itself is not the most core secret, but for strategic reasons it is usually not explained in detail to mid- and low-rank wizards. However, with the potential you have displayed and the Rank-2 cultivation authority granted to you, learning it early is acceptable.”

He paused, his tone turning exceptionally grave.

“Jie Ming, remember this: in the Endless Chaotic Void explored by wizards, so long as no Rank-9 being personally descends to interfere, Rank-8 wizards can indeed be considered invincible.”

Jie Ming held his breath.

Clark continued, “The two most fearsome abilities of Rank-9 beings are: first, the capacity to twist laws within a limited range—what most wizards call ‘authority’; second, theoretically near-infinite power.

“But neither ability is without counter.”

“First, regarding law-twisting. The core of a Rank-8 wizard’s ‘law solidification’ is not merely stabilizing the laws they have comprehended; more importantly, it solidifies the foundational laws upon which their own existence depends.

“This allows a Rank-8 wizard to remain unaffected in form, power, and cognition when a Rank-9 alters the world—like a reef standing firm in raging currents. That is the prerequisite for confrontation.”

Viola added from the side, her tone equally serious, “This is one of the greatest trump cards allowing wizard civilization to stand undefeated across countless planes and continue expanding. It must never be leaked.”

Jie Ming began to understand, yet confusion remained. “I see. Through law solidification, Rank-8s can resist being instantly erased or twisted by Rank-9 authority.

“But that only guarantees survival. How do they actually win—or force the other side to negotiate? After all, the opponent theoretically possesses infinite power.”

From the day he became a wizard, every lesson had taught him that Rank-8s could not defeat Rank-9s by leaping tiers.

Clark nodded and took over. “That is the crux, and the common misconception. The statement ‘Rank-8 cannot leap tiers to defeat Rank-9’ is not wrong, but it omits a vital premise: it refers to a single Rank-8 individual.

“Ordinary peak civilizations, even with multiple Rank-8 powerhouses, are often helpless before Rank-9 authority because they cannot resist changes at the root level. Wizards, however, can.”

“When multiple Rank-8 wizards, through specific joint spell arrays and knowledge resonance, overlay and resonate their solidified law domains, they can form an ‘Absolute Domain’ powerful enough to temporarily resist or even partially neutralize a Rank-9’s law-twisting effects.”

“The remaining issue is confronting the Rank-9’s ‘infinite’ power.” Clark’s tone actually lightened here. “It sounds terrifying, but the principle of countering it is surprisingly… simple.”

“Simply overwhelm them in instantaneous output power.”

Jie Ming’s expression changed slightly. “Instantaneous output… overwhelm an existence with infinite power? Is that truly possible?”

“Of course it is,” Clark said with absolute certainty. “So-called infinite power must be separated into output and reserves. Infinite energy does not mean instantaneous output has no ceiling. Every being is limited by energy channels, soul bearing capacity, and thought-processing speed, meaning the energy they can mobilize and release in a single instant has a hard limit. Authority raises that limit theoretically without bound, but reaching true infinity requires casting time.”

“When Rank-8 wizards confront Rank-9 beings, what they do is gather sufficient comrades and, through exquisite joint spellcasting techniques and energy leverage, stack and amplify our instantaneous output in an extremely short window—raising it to a level that, in that instant, exceeds the opponent’s mental processing limit.”

Viola smiled and added proudly, “Sounds difficult? Yet for wizards who have been studying since apprenticeship how to use knowledge to leverage the greatest elemental multipliers, this is our specialty.”

“According to internal civilization statistics, usually only three to ten perfectly coordinated Rank-8 wizards are needed to overpower most known Rank-9 beings in instantaneous output—forcing retreat, negotiation, or even… death.”

Jie Ming was utterly shocked; his eyes widened.

Countless previously unclear matters suddenly clicked into place.

“In other words… from the very foundation of wizard education, our power system has been deliberately cultivated toward ‘how to fight outnumbered, how to leap tiers against higher beings’? What we have always studied is not the ultimate sublimation of the individual, but how to form ‘clusters’ capable of slaying Rank-9 existences through knowledge and cooperation?!”

Thinking of the persistent rumors—that the nine elusive Rank-9 wizards constantly led armies composed primarily of Rank-8 wizards to open up and wage war on unknown fronts…

A stunning idea flashed through Jie Ming’s mind like lightning. He blurted out:

“So! It isn’t that wizard civilization has infinite expansionist desire! Instead… those nine Rank-9 wizards need ever more Rank-8 wizards as ‘soldiers’ to open up territory for them, to face enemies or challenges on their level?!”

Viola and Mentor Clark exchanged a glance. Identical, meaningful smiles appeared on their faces—neither confirming nor denying.

Seeing that knowing look pass between the two high-rank wizards, Jie Ming knew his guess had come extremely close to the truth.