novelraw Chapter 584: Evolution and Moonlight
Chapter 584: Evolution and Moonlight
Chapter 584: Evolution and Moonlight
Jie Ming stood before the incubation pool, staring at the Black Giant “embryos” being nurtured within it, his brows slightly furrowed.
Half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.
The breakthrough in his Alchemy Technique meant that Jie Ming had now reached a certain standard in biological knowledge.
With that, he began preparing to resume various research projects he had previously set aside due to insufficient knowledge.
For example, the modification of cannon fodder units and the like…
The most important among them was the study of the only seventh-grade Black Giant—the Black Giant leader, Molten Mountain.
After all, it was the most powerful individual under his command and held the highest research value.
However, Jie Ming did not rashly begin researching Molten Mountain right away. Instead, he planned to start from the lower levels and work his way up gradually.
After all, the birth of the Black Giants had already spanned nearly a thousand years. Over such a long period of natural evolution, the Black Giant population had undergone some subtle mutations. He needed to understand these changes first to lay a solid foundation for his future study of Molten Mountain.
First grasp the basics, then tackle the profound.
In the past half month, he had examined over a hundred Black Giants of varying ranks, from third-grade to sixth-grade, recording detailed data on each one. Torso structure, energy circuits, core layout, soul fluctuations…
All the data had been entered into the Fate Subsystem for cross-comparison.
Jie Ming discovered that the core of the Black Giants had undergone almost no change.
The energy core he had originally designed—based on the “Five Viscera Sacrifice God Technique” and the innate talents of elemental creatures—had remained virtually unchanged for nearly a thousand years. Every Black Giant’s core strictly followed the template he had set, remaining remarkably precise and stable.
That was only natural. If it hadn’t been stable enough, the Black Giant race would not even have had the possibility of becoming a natural species. Moreover, a thousand years was not a long time for biological evolution; the core components indeed would not change much.
But… their bodies had changed.
Jie Ming pulled up two sets of records.
One was the standard Black Giant template from nine hundred years ago. The other was the actual data from the third-grade Black Giant he had just examined.
“Shoulder width expanded by three degrees…”
“Metal density of the body increased by seven percent…”
“Thickness of the metallic keratin layer on the skin reduced, but toughness improved…”
“Energy conduction pathways optimized, efficiency increased by twelve percent…”
Jie Ming compared each item one by one, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter.
These changes were not designed by him.
They were natural mutations that had occurred in the Black Giant race over nearly a thousand years of evolution as they adapted to their environment.
This environment did not only refer to the Infernal Sulfur Plane itself—although that had some influence—but more importantly, the surviving veterans had continuously evolved to adapt to the high-intensity planar battlefields.
Every single change was tiny, but when accumulated, they were enough to raise the overall quality of the entire race by one level.
On an individual level, these changes were actually not very noticeable and even seemed somewhat insignificant.
After all, every Black Giant was born with body-forging methods and possessed a certain degree of adaptive evolution.
But this was racial evolution!
Even newly born Black Giants exhibited these changes.
Therefore, the more critical point was that the incubation pool itself had changed.
Jie Ming turned and walked toward the control core of the incubation pool. His spiritual power probed inward as he began reading the data.
The incubation pool he had originally designed was a standard “production assembly line” modified from the incubation pool of the Lava Giant race. It took in energy and materials and output standardized Black Giant individuals.
Every individual should have been manufactured strictly according to the template—identical, without any deviation.
But now, subtle changes had appeared in the core runes of the incubation pool.
These changes were not the result of manual modification, but had been subtly influenced by the Incense Fire Divine Dao over long-term operation.
“So this is the Incense Fire Divine Dao…”
Jie Ming couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder.
He suddenly recalled the records in the ancient texts within the Great Dao Book Pavilion.
In the immortal cultivation world, those Incense Fire Divine Dao systems that had operated for tens of millions of years produced residents who possessed astonishing aptitude from the moment of their birth. Some were born with the lifespan and strength of the Golden Core realm, and their aptitude allowed them to easily cultivate all the way to the Spirit Transformation Stage.
That was not innate—it was “nurtured” by the Incense Fire Divine Dao.
The Incense Fire Divine Dao connected to every believer, allowing it to sense their condition and collect their information.
When a believer developed a beneficial mutation, the Incense Fire Divine Dao would automatically capture that mutation and replicate it across the entire race through the faith network. Generation after generation of accumulation and optimization would ultimately allow the entire race to acquire those “beneficial mutations.”
In the end, it would achieve the feat of every individual being like a dragon.
“In other words…”
Jie Ming looked at the Black Giant embryos being nurtured, the corners of his mouth slowly curving into a smile.
“As long as they experience enough battlefields and enough time passes, they will become stronger on their own.”
He withdrew his spiritual power and wrote in his logbook:
【Black Giant Race Evolution Observation Log】
【Conclusion: The Incense Fire Divine Dao possesses a “racial strengthening” function. Beneficial mutations will be automatically captured and replicated. Over long-term operation, the overall quality of the race will continue to improve.】
【Recommendation: No manual intervention required; periodic observation and recording will suffice.】
After closing the logbook, Jie Ming was about to continue with the next research project when his magic network terminal suddenly vibrated.
【Alfred: Lord Jie Ming, the “moon” modification has been completed. Please come and inspect it.】
Jie Ming’s eyes brightened.
He put away the logbook and strode out of the incubation pool, flying toward the elemental pool.
In mid-air, he looked up at the sky.
It was currently daytime on the Infernal Sulfur Plane.
In the gray-red sky, where two orbs of light had once hung, only one remained.
The projection of the Fire Elemental Plane was still bright, while the projection of the seventh-grade large-scale elemental pool had vanished without a trace.
“Hidden quite well.”
Jie Ming nodded and continued forward.
When he flew near the elemental pool, the construction team leader Alfred was already waiting there.
He was a sixth-ring formation master with graying hair and beard, followed by dozens of team members.
“Lord Jie Ming.” Alfred stepped forward. “As per your requirements, the formation has been fully modified. Daytime concealment, nighttime activation, and spectrum adjustment have all been tested and passed.”
Jie Ming landed in front of him and looked up at the massive elemental pool.
From the outside, it showed no visible changes.
But with his All-Purpose Eye, Jie Ming could see that an additional complex rune structure had been added to the protective formation surrounding the elemental pool.
“You’ll be able to see it at night,” Alfred said with a smile. “Would you like to rest first and come back after dark to inspect it?”
“Alright!”
Jie Ming nodded.
Several hours later, night fell.
Jie Ming stood outside the laboratory and looked up at the sky.
The projection of the Fire Elemental Plane had already sunk below the horizon.
He had deliberately adjusted the plane’s rotation cycle to make the nights longer.
In the sky, a patch of cool moonlight was slowly emerging.
The light was completely different from that of daytime.
It was not as fierce and bright as the fire elemental projection, but soft, cool, and carrying a faint silver-blue tint.
It hung at the center of the sky dome, surrounded by the gray-red night sky, creating a strange and beautiful sight.
Jie Ming narrowed his eyes and activated his All-Purpose Eye.
The spectrum of the moonlight decomposed into countless fine wavelength bands before his eyes.
He had specifically asked Alfred to simulate the frequency bands of the Water Elemental Plane projection. At this moment, those bands were indeed identical to a water elemental projection. Although it had no practical effect, it looked much more like the “moon” in his conceptual understanding.
A commotion sounded from afar.
Jie Ming turned his head. It was coming from the Black Giant settlements.
Those black figures walked out of their houses one after another, looking up at the moon in the sky, whispering and pointing.
Although Jie Ming had already informed them in advance that a “moon” would appear, these beings—who had never seen a moon before—could not hide their surprise upon witnessing it with their own eyes.
Jie Ming smiled and turned toward a formation he had prepared earlier beside the laboratory.
It was the “Moonlight Collection Formation” he had set up in advance.
With a diameter of one hundred meters, it consisted of three hundred and sixty small rune pillars. At the center was a fist-sized crystal core.
The entire formation was specially designed to collect moonlight power and served as the first step in the Imperial Flow Paste manufacturing process.
Jie Ming walked to the center of the formation and sat cross-legged.
Spiritual power poured into it, and the formation lit up instantly.
The three hundred and sixty rune pillars glowed simultaneously. Their lights intertwined to form a soaring pillar of light that shot straight toward the moon in the sky. Wherever the light pillar passed, the spiritual qi in the air began to stir, as if being drawn by something.
Jie Ming closed his eyes and sensed the operation of the formation.
He could “see” countless tiny points of light drifting down from the direction of the moon.
Those points of light were extremely faint, almost imperceptible, but under the traction of the formation, they began to converge toward the center.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three…
The moon slowly crossed the sky dome as a trace of pale light appeared in the east.
When the moon was about to sink below the horizon, Jie Ming opened his eyes.
He raised his right hand, and the crystal core at the center of the formation slowly rose and landed in his palm.
Inside the core, a faint silver light was circulating.
The light was very weak, like a single droplet of water that could dissipate at any moment.
“So this is moonlight essence…”
Jie Ming sensed it and frowned slightly.
Too little.
The total energy harvested from this single night was roughly equivalent to the energy intensity of a first-ring spell.
This amount was far too small, and compared to the moonlight power recorded in the Great Dao Book Pavilion, the purity was also much lower. It contained a large amount of spiritual qi that had not been fully converted.
At the very least, the moonlight power before him could not be used to refine Imperial Flow Paste.
Jie Ming quickly figured out the reason.
Moonlight power was essentially the product of a “concept.” The stronger the concept, the greater the harvest.
The Black Giant population had only seen the moon for the first time tonight. The concept had just begun to form, so it was naturally thin.
Once they grew accustomed to the moon’s existence and lived under its light for decades or centuries, the concept would grow stronger and stronger, and the harvest would increase accordingly.
Moreover, he had only set up a small collection formation beside the laboratory for now.
In the future, once collection formations were spread across the entire Infernal Sulfur Plane and covered all Black Giant inhabited areas, the efficiency would increase by at least ten thousand times.
“Good thing—it confirms that moonlight can be produced.”
Jie Ming put away the bundle of moonlight power and walked toward Alfred and his team.
“Inspection passed.”
He raised his hand and transferred the payment.
【Final payment successful: 5 million low-level military merits】
Alfred looked at the received amount, his face blooming into a wide smile.
“Lord Jie Ming is straightforward! If you need anything in the future, feel free to contact us anytime!”
Jie Ming nodded and saw the construction team off.
Back in the laboratory, he took out the bundle of moonlight power and held it in his palm, examining it carefully.
The silver light flowed gently, like a living droplet of mercury.
With this small amount, refining Imperial Flow Paste was out of the question.
But it should be enough for some other tests.