novelraw Chapter 550: Intelligence
Chapter 550: Intelligence
Chapter 550: Intelligence
After examining the wizard in front of him, Jie Ming took a few steps back to make room for the wizards beside him.
He retreated to the side of the chair he had created with Alchemy Technique, but did not sit down.
His gaze swept across the silenced wizards lying on the stretchers around him, finally landing on the pure white perfect sphere in the sky.
Right now, another question weighed heavily on his mind.
If he had not misread the earlier recording, it was “Ashheart” Martin who had led the high-ranking wizards in the initial invasion of this plane, and both seventh-ring and sixth-ring wizards had fallen victim one after another.
Even seventh-ring wizards had been hit.
Was this plane really something that fifth-ring wizards like them could touch?
Clearly, he was not the only one thinking this.
The expressions on the faces of the elite wizards who had reacted around him had already shifted from initial excitement to solemnity. Some conversed in low voices, some frowned in deep thought, and others stared silently at the silenced wizards.
“Ashheart” Martin’s voice rang out again, interrupting everyone’s thoughts.
“We have not yet fully understood the operating logic behind this form of attack.” He paused. “But one thing is certain: according to feedback from the survivors, the intensity of the attack differs depending on the rank of the wizard.”
A data analysis chart appeared on the holographic screen behind him.
“Subsequent research speculates that the strength of this attack depends on the amount of information carried by the target. This so-called information quantity is presumed to be positively correlated with each wizard’s strength, methods, knowledge level, and so on. The more information one carries, the stronger the attack received. Conversely, as long as one’s information processing capability breaks through a certain threshold, one can resist this attack.”
Jie Ming’s brows furrowed slightly.
Information quantity?
He subconsciously thought of his own inner cave-heaven, as well as the Fate Subsystem he had just constructed and remained constantly connected to. Did the five hundred sixth-ring black giant priests stored in his cave-heaven, along with the automated factories, fifth-ring elemental pools, and even the seventh-ring black giant leader Molten Mountain, count as “information”?
The Fate Subsystem was in constant connection with him, would it also be treated as part of the information load and draw an even stronger attack?
“It should… be able to hold… right?”
Jie Ming muttered to himself, though his tone was not particularly confident.
The Fate Subsystem’s information processing capability was indeed powerful, but this was still only speculation; the enemy’s exact attack intensity remained unknown.
If the opponent traced his connection through the Incense Fire Divine Dao and even counted the entire Infernal Sulfur Plane as part of the “information quantity”… Jie Ming felt no confidence. He sighed.
It would be nice if this eighth-ring wizard “Ashheart” Martin could test it himself.
Unfortunately…
Jie Ming looked toward Martin floating in midair, knowing full well this was unrealistic.
It was not that “Ashheart” Martin held himself in too high regard and refused to help.
When it came to researching the unknown, every wizard held the same attitude.
The key issue was that even if “Ashheart” Martin wanted to help, he could not.
From the earlier recorded footage, it was obvious that an eighth-ring wizard’s “Law Fixation” ability granted him natural immunity to this kind of attack. But that was precisely the problem.
Eighth-ring wizards were simply too powerful. Many attacks that would be fatal to lower-ranking wizards were like a gentle breeze to them; some they could not even perceive at all due to Law Fixation.
Therefore, they could not accurately gauge the specific intensity of this attack, nor could they test the defensive threshold for lower-ranking wizards.
This was also why, in many planar wars, high-ranking wizards did not lead the initial charge. Instead, lower-ranking wizards went first.
On one hand, it was to avoid letting powerful auras provoke the enemy into desperation and directly detonating the plane’s origin in self-destruction.
On the other hand, it was exactly the current situation.
Let lower-ranking wizards step on the traps first. High-ranking wizards could observe, analyze, and find countermeasures from behind.
High-ranking wizards’ analytical abilities were undoubtedly superior to those of lower-ranking ones. In the event of any incident, this arrangement actually gave lower-ranking wizards a higher chance of being rescued.
Jie Ming pulled back his thoughts and continued listening to Martin’s briefing.
On the holographic screen behind him, a new scene began to play.
A team of high-ranking wizards advanced through a sea of pure white light. The interior of the entire Information Plane seemed to contain no physical matter, only this boundless expanse of light.
The sea of light appeared gentle, but Jie Ming knew it was precisely this seemingly harmless environment that had brought down an army of over a hundred thousand.
In the footage, the wizards soon encountered their targets.
They were several creatures composed entirely of light, their bodies constantly writhing, lacking any fixed form, like condensations of light rays. They swam through the sea of light and, upon detecting the wizards’ approach, actively moved to meet them.
Combat erupted instantly.
To be precise, it was a one-sided slaughter.
The spells released by the high-ranking wizards struck the light creatures, causing their bodies to instantly disintegrate into countless light particles that scattered into the air. After the battle ended, there were no spoils at all: no corpses, no soul remnants, not even any residual energy.
The scene switched to Martin taking action personally.
The power of an eighth-ring wizard instantly enveloped one light creature, attempting to imprison and capture it.
The creature struggled for a few seconds within the confinement, then actively dissipated.
Jie Ming’s expression darkened.
When an eighth-ring wizard acted, he would undoubtedly have considered every aspect thoroughly. For ordinary creatures, even suicide would be impossible.
Yet these creatures of the Information Plane could do so, meaning they could perhaps choose “existence” or “non-existence.”
The image on the light screen froze.
“Anatomy, soul extraction, bloodline purification.” Martin’s voice remained calm, but the content of his words weighed heavily on every wizard present. “All the methods we take pride in are completely ineffective here.”
Jie Ming narrowed his eyes.
No corpses, no souls, no samples available for study.
This meant conventional analysis methods would not work at all.
The footage continued playing.
This time, it was a small team of low-ranking wizards in combat.
The light creatures opposite them released some form of attack, didn’t release, but “disturbed.”
The spells the wizards released whether fireballs, ice spikes, energy beams or certain unique spells – all silently disintegrated in midair.
It was as if the spell models composing those spells had been tampered with, causing them to lose the foundation of their existence.
A chill ran down Jie Ming’s back.
This style of combat…
“Presumed to be interference at the underlying information level, thereby affecting reality,” Martin’s voice sounded at the right moment. “Our spells, from the construction of the spell model to its release, are essentially multi-layered transformations across the information layer, energy layer and material layer. If the enemy can act directly at the information layer, our spells are destroyed before they can even take shape.”
The scene fell into complete silence.
Jie Ming quickly simulated the scenario in his mind.
If that were truly the case, then the vast majority of his conventional methods would become ineffective.
Energy attacks would be dismantled, material attacks would be tampered with, and even defenses might be directly erased by the opponent from the information level.
The footage continued.
This time, it was the turn of fate-type wizards.
In the image, a sixth-ring fate wizard fully activated his laws, attempting to interfere with the “fate trajectories” of those light creatures.
Then…
Large patches of garbled code appeared on the light screen.
The garbled code spread like a virus infection. The originally clear image became fragmented and broken, finally turning completely black.
“The enemy’s capability to manipulate information far surpasses that of our fate-type wizards,” Martin said. “When our interference reaches them, it is processed by some kind of algorithm and turned into garbled code.”
Jie Ming took a deep breath.
This was no longer just a troublesome problem.
It was completely impossible to make a move!
Martin finally finished presenting all the intelligence.
With a wave of his large hand, beams of light shot out from his palm and precisely entered every wizard’s magic network terminal on site.
“More detailed intelligence has been sent to you,” Martin’s voice remained calm. “The legion will not launch an offensive for the time being. Your mission is also very simple: find ways to break the deadlock by any means possible. Any ideas can be attempted.”
With that, his figure vanished on the spot.
The scene remained quiet for a few seconds, then instantly became lively.
The wizards lowered their heads one after another to check their magic network terminals. Some discussed in low voices, some frowned in deep thought, and others directly sat cross-legged to begin deductions. Jie Ming also opened his own magic network terminal.
A light screen popped up, displaying an extremely detailed intelligence report.
It included not only the content Martin had just introduced, but also the specific processes, times, and locations of each squad’s encounters with the enemy, even including what spells each wizard had released at the time and the enemy’s reactions.
Jie Ming read through it line by line, very slowly. Whenever he encountered key information, he would pause and ponder it repeatedly.
Two hours later, he finally raised his head, a thoughtful look emerging in his eyes.
Two critical points had been revealed in the intelligence.
First, the four basic elements could still inflict effective damage on the enemy.
Fire, wind, water, and earth—these four elements were the cornerstone of the wizard world.
Not only matter and energy, but even time, space, and causality could ultimately be traced back to being composed of the four basic elements.
The opponent could indeed destroy spells by interfering with the information in their models, but if the information complexity of the spell model itself exceeded the opponent’s short-term computational limit, the spell could still be released – just like those high-ranking wizards had done.
For lower-ranking wizards, they could also choose to directly mobilize the four basic elements.
Although the output multiplier was relatively low, it could still cause considerable damage to the enemy.
Jie Ming fell into thought.
If there was an opportunity, he could try to see whether the Trigram Fire Annihilation Divine Light would be effective.
Second, information-type manipulation methods were also effective.
This could be seen from the experiences of those fate-type wizards.
They had indeed failed, but the reason for failure was not that the methods were ineffective, but that they “could not compete.”
The enemy’s information manipulation capability was stronger, so it could turn their interference into garbled code.
But what if, in reverse, one’s information manipulation capability was stronger than the enemy’s?
He subconsciously glanced toward the altar inside his inner cave-heaven.
Jie Ming knew very well that he did not necessarily have to rely on the Fate Subsystem to defeat the enemy. He could fully use the Fate Subsystem to protect himself, then solve the problem with the violent output of the four basic elements.
Jie Ming closed his magic network terminal and looked up at the pure white perfect sphere in the sky.
The surrounding wizards were still discussing animatedly. Some had already begun forming teams to plan their next course of action.