novelraw Chapter 462: War Preparations
Chapter 462: War Preparations
In the training chamber, time seemed to freeze in the moment of fist meeting fist, bone clashing against bone.
The final afterimage of time completely collapsed under Jie Ming’s punch that contained the full explosive power of his entire body, his chest caving in utterly.
The elemental energy that formed the body fell into violent disarray, then silently burst apart like a punctured bubble, dissolving into specks of flowing light that dissipated into the training field’s energy filtration system.
“Huff… huff…”
Jie Ming maintained his punching posture, breathing heavily. Sweat mixed with faint traces of blood mist slid down his bronze-colored skin.
He could clearly feel the qi and blood surging within his body like boiling magma.
An indescribable sensation of immense power filled every limb and bone, accompanied by the primal instinct to destroy and vent that came with such a sudden violent increase in strength.
“Ha…” He took a deep breath and circulated the calming and stabilizing technique from the Qi Refinement Method, suppressing the boiling qi and blood. His gaze gradually regained clarity.
Leaving the training field, he washed away the exhaustion and bloodstains from his body, then as usual stepped into the medicine bath barrel that had long been prepared.
Warm medicinal liquid enveloped him, nourishing the slightly damaged cells that had been pushed beyond their limits, while consolidating the new boundary he had just broken through. A Black Giant Priest entered carrying detection instruments. Jie Ming merely waved his hand, indicating there was no need to report the specific numbers.
Because there was no time left.
Only the final stretch of time remained before the Coordination War that would decide the fate of the Noren Workshop.
All preparations that needed to be made had entered their final phase. The strength that could be raised in the short term had almost reached its limit.
During this last period of war preparation, Jie Ming had repeatedly weighed his options and focused his limited energy and resources on the two most core matters.
First: continuously “consuming” those planar origins that carried the concepts of “Abyss,” “Devouring,” “Finality,” “Void,” and similar profound essences.
The power of the Return to Ruins Armor fundamentally depended on the depth of his comprehension of the “Return to Ruins Concept”
The deeper the conception, the stronger the “essence” of that invisible force field, and the higher the upper limit of energy it could bear and convert.
The “elemental output multiplier” brought by wizard knowledge was multiplied on top of this “base value.”
Even the slightest improvement in the base, when amplified by tens or hundreds of thousands of times, would result in an astonishing final increase in defensive power.
Other spell modifications were unlikely to see qualitative leaps in the short term. Only the “base” of the Return to Ruins Armor could be forcibly pushed forward through this almost extravagant method of “knowledge force-feeding.” Even tiny progress was enough to rapidly elevate combat power.
Second: hovering at the critical tipping point where the three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit were about to fall out of balance, he relentlessly pushed his physical strength to the extreme.
Whenever his mental power and spiritual qi barely caught up a little through resource accumulation and natural nurturing, Jie Ming would immediately throw himself into a new, even more insane round of time-afterimage body forging, shoving his physical strength upward another brutal step.
He understood very clearly that on a wizard battlefield where everything changed in an instant and methods were bizarre and unpredictable, an abnormally powerful physique combined with the “adaptive evolution” provided by the Body Forging Method was the most reliable capital for survival and counterattack.
A powerful flesh body meant higher fault tolerance, natural resistance to physical and energy damage, and the maintenance of basic combat capability even in certain extreme environments.
To this end, he had also invested massive resources into improving his mental power and spiritual qi.
He purchased all kinds of heavenly materials, earthly treasures, and special environmental access rights that could quickly condense mental power, ensuring he could barely keep pace with the frenzied, meteoric rise of his physical body.
The price was that even with three continuous streams of income—“Self-Stabilizing Field Adjustment Protocol,” “Liquid Gold” and “Imaginary Element Sales”—his enormous stockpile of low-grade military merits was being consumed at a terrifying speed.
Massive amounts of planar origins, mountains of material purchases, and precious resources for improving mental power—each and every one was a gold-devouring beast.
At this moment, soaking in the medicine bath, Jie Ming casually opened his terminal and looked at the pitiful few thousand points of low-grade military merit left in his personal account. He shook his head helplessly.
“Truly… spending money like flowing water,” he muttered to himself.
But it was worth it.
Every single point of military merit had genuinely been transformed into weight on the scale of his war preparations.
With low-grade military merits almost completely depleted, Jie Ming’s gaze shifted to the still-considerable balance of over one million high-grade military merits.
He opened the redemption interface exclusive to high-grade military merits and began browsing through the strategic resources, forbidden knowledge, and one-time top-tier items that were usually only accessible to high-tier wizards.
A dazzling list entered his view: strange objects containing rule fragments, inheritance crystals recording forbidden techniques, life-saving talismans capable of briefly contending against seventh or even eighth-tier existences, super-technological creations from unknown civilizations, and even small portable law-interference devices…
Jie Ming looked carefully, but his brows gradually furrowed.
There were many good items, but given his current combat power, anything qualified to serve as his true trump card carried an exorbitant price.
Either they didn’t perfectly align with his existing system and would require large amounts of time to use or study,
Or the prices were absurdly high—often requiring millions of high-grade military merits. His entire fortune could only afford one or two items, offering poor cost-performance.
“One million high-grade military merits… sounds like a lot, but at this level, wanting to buy something that can produce a decisive improvement or qualitative change is still far from enough.” Jie Ming calmly assessed his needs.
What he needed was not icing on the cake, but something that could break a deadlock at a critical moment or greatly enhance his tactical flexibility.
His gaze swept back and forth across the list, finally stopping on one item:
[Anti-Magic Disk · Star Orbit Tribunal Standard Model (Seventh-Tier Standard Type)]
Redemption Price: 200,000 high-grade military merits
Description: A one-time strategic-grade interference device manufactured by workshops under the Star Orbit Tribunal. Once activated, it can forcibly construct an “Absolute Magic Ban Domain” lasting ten minutes within the designated area.
Within the domain, aside from specific energy fluctuations pre-marked by the user, all non-physical energy flows, law manifestations, spell model constructions, mental links, and other extraordinary activities will suffer extreme suppression and interference, equivalent to seventh-tier law suppression.
Effect drastically diminishes against eighth-tier and above existences that have already solidified their laws.
Remark: Standard strategic material. Usage requires registration. Please exercise caution when selecting timing and environment.
“Anto-Magic Disk…” Jie Ming’s gaze slightly sharpened.
The effect of this item was simple and brutal—creating a temporary “silence” zone.
Low-grade military merits could also redeem magic-sealing devices with similar functions, but the difference in effectiveness was like heaven and earth.
This “Seventh-Tier Standard Type” meant it could impose powerful restrictions on the vast majority of seventh-tier wizards.
More importantly, judging from the description, if properly prepared in advance, it could even achieve one-sided magic suppression against the enemy.
In a chaotic battle, suddenly stripping away the transcendent power the opponent relied on most—even for just ten minutes—was enough to completely change the tide of battle.
Whether used for breaking out of encirclement, decapitation strikes, or covering the operations of special friendly forces, its effect would be miraculous.
Of course, the enemy was very likely to possess similar items, so the idea of truly one-sided magic suppression was basically unrealistic.
Even so, for Jie Ming—whose physical strength far exceeded his tier and who could still maintain considerable combat power even in energy-suppressed environments—the compatibility of this item remained extremely high.
The price of two hundred thousand high-grade military merits was steep, but still within an acceptable range.
“This is the one.”
Jie Ming no longer hesitated. With a light tap of his finger, he confirmed the redemption.
The redemption process for high-grade military merits was extremely efficient. Almost the instant the order was placed, Jie Ming’s terminal received the notification that the item had already been delivered to the designated receiving point via encrypted spatial channel.
He immediately used a mental link to order a Black Giant Priest to head to the exclusive teleportation array receiving area in the laboratory and retrieve the item.
Soon, a metallic disk was delivered before Jie Ming.
The entire Anti-Magic Disk was about the size of a palm, half a finger thick, dark silver in color throughout, with a mirror-smooth surface. Fine emblems of star rings and scales were engraved along the edge.
The disk felt slightly heavy in hand, and cool to the touch.
Aside from its extraordinary material and the emblem, it looked completely ordinary, without the slightest energy fluctuation leaking out.
Yet Jie Ming could sense that within it was sealed an extremely stable and powerful suppressive force.
When using it, one only needed to input a specific “password” with mental power to instantly activate it.
He inspected it carefully twice, confirmed there were no issues, then cautiously stored it in the safest location within his internal cave-heaven.
By the time he finished, the medicinal power in the bath had essentially been fully absorbed.
Jie Ming stood up from the pool. The remaining water droplets on his body instantly reorganized under the light of alchemy, transforming into a simple, well-fitted deep gray wizard robe that automatically dressed itself neatly on him.
“Time… is almost up.”
He let out a low sigh. His expression was calm, yet carried the heavy stillness that comes before the storm.
Leaving the bathing area, he went straight to the nearly completed “ammunition” warehouse.
Millions upon millions of dark golden metal plates were sorted and sealed in specially-made energy storage boxes, neatly stacked into metallic hills that nearly filled half the warehouse.
Each metal plate represented one round of Trigram Fire Annihilation Divine Light that had been reinforced with wizard knowledge.
Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction. With a flicker of thought, the entrance to his internal cave-heaven silently opened, generating a vast suction force.
Box after box of metal plates rose as if lifted by invisible hands, flowing like water into the cave-heaven and being properly placed in the specially designated “ammunition reserve zone.”
In just a short moment, the warehouse was emptied.
Finally, Jie Ming’s gaze turned to the Black Giant Priest Leader who had been waiting silently at the side for some time.
“Pass down the order.”
Jie Ming’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it echoed clearly through the warehouse, carrying an unquestionable resolve.
“Assemble all combat units of fifth-tier and above. First-level war readiness.”
“Destination: Perimeter of the Junction Point, Temporary Assembly Point No. 7.”
“We… set out.”
The instant the order was given, an invisible, murderous aura silently spread outward with Jie Ming at its center.
Beneath the dark crimson sky of the Infernal Sulfur plane, countless powerful auras began responding from every corner of the plane, converging toward the designated location.