Chapter 163: The Nexus

Preparing for a plane war involved numerous and complex tasks, but the most critical was registration.

Jie Ming was no stranger to plane wars.

At Noren Academy, every five years, as each class of apprentices graduated, the academy would arrange for them to head to planes requiring conquest.

On the surface, this seemed like a “trial” for graduates, but in reality, it was a benefit provided by the academy.

Typically, each selected plane was sufficient to fulfill the military service requirements of a batch of graduates.

Combat-oriented wizards were generally responsible for the initial invasion and exploration, charging into battle to assess the plane’s main conditions.

Logistics-oriented wizards handled the mid-stage siege warfare, eliminating the most troublesome enemies, assisting in establishing strongholds, and managing the later stages of plane cleanup and reorganization.

Occasionally, particularly challenging planes could serve as “textbooks” for two graduating classes, providing long-term training opportunities.

However, once this academy-provided “benefit period” (i.e., mandatory military service) ended, it wasn’t so easy for regular wizards to participate in wars.

The planes targeted for expansion were strategic resources painstakingly located by high-tier wizards, often at great cost and even risk to their lives.

Naturally, these couldn’t be casually opened up for ordinary wizards to join at will.

Jie Ming’s situation was somewhat unique.

Under normal circumstances, even if a plane used as a “textbook” was conquered smoothly, new graduates could still return to it for “work” during the five-year preparation period.

After all, even if most enemies were dealt with, tasks like clearing lingering resistance, cataloging resources, surveying materials, and plane transformation were enough to keep logistics wizards occupied for the duration of their military service.

However, the Elosia plane cluster had been designated by Noren Workshop as the site for a new Noren Academy, with numerous high-tier wizards and veteran scholars involved, resulting in an astonishingly fast completion of the later-stage work.

In just a few years, the entire plane cluster was thoroughly organized, with even the plane’s origin imprinted with Noren Workshop’s mark.

If Jie Ming had joined earlier, like Amy or Victor, he could have caught the tail end of the previous graduates’ plane war and participated as part of his apprentice military service.

If he waited a bit longer for the next graduating class, he could have joined their “textbook” benefit.

But his timing was awkwardly caught in the gap between two graduating classes’ campaigns, making things rather inconvenient.

Thus, he had to follow the path of veteran wizards who had completed their military service and actively sought plane wars—registration.

Fortunately, Mentor Clark provided Jie Ming with a good solution and introduced him to a wizard familiar with the process.

“Lady… Viola?”

Looking at the familiar figure on the communication screen, Jie Ming was somewhat surprised.

He double-checked and confirmed he hadn’t mistaken the sequence number provided by his mentor.

“Oh, Jie Ming, little brother! Didn’t expect to see you again. I regretted not exchanging contact info after our last trade,” Viola said with a familiar ease, greeting him warmly. Compared to their previous encounter during a trade with Amy, she seemed even livelier now.

“I didn’t expect you to be Mentor Clark’s student. What a coincidence!”

“Also?” Jie Ming keenly caught the implication in her words. “Is Lady Viola one too? I thought you specialized in potion studies.”

“Call me Senior Sister!”

In the screen, Viola crossed her arms, looking smug. “Of course. Unfortunately, my talent in alchemy is pretty mediocre—I can only affect inorganic matter—so I shifted my focus to potion studies. Still, I’m considered an outstanding graduate.”

“But you,” she continued, “developed such a powerful potion, yet your specialty is alchemy?”

Learning that Jie Ming was her junior, Viola’s expression grew even more animated, her emotions barely concealed.

As she spoke, her face showed clear envy and jealousy. “So annoying! You geniuses make people so jealous!”

“Uh… haha…” Jie Ming gave an awkward laugh, unsure how to respond.

Thankfully, Viola didn’t dwell on it, quickly shifting to the main topic.

“Mentor Clark already filled me in. You’re planning to join a plane war, so you need to register, right?”

“Yes… I’m not sure how it works,” Jie Ming nodded.

Viola waved grandly. “No problem. I’m also looking for a battlefield soon, so I can take you to register. Don’t be too nervous—it’s basically like a mercenary system…”

Through Viola’s explanation, Jie Ming roughly understood what “registration” entailed.

In simple terms, if a newly advanced high-tier wizard discovered a new plane’s coordinates but the plane was guarded by beings above level six or had an extremely complex environment, and their war system wasn’t fully developed to conquer it alone, they would issue a task to invite other wizards to join forces.

This was the main way low-level wizards participated in plane wars, akin to being mercenaries, as Viola described.

As a seasoned wizard, Viola was well-versed in the ins and outs of the process.

With her guidance, Jie Ming learned that the nearest plane war registration point wasn’t within Noren Workshop’s territory but at the nexus of three wizard factions—Noren Workshop, the Tower of Annihilation, and the Chaos Secret Cult.

Though these three factions competed fiercely, they often collaborated for external plane expansions.

Thus, for major plane war tasks, wizards from all three factions would join forces and share the spoils.

Out of respect for Mentor Clark and their past camaraderie fighting together in the Elosia plane, Viola offered to take Jie Ming to the special location at the nexus of the three factions.

As it happened, Viola was also in the Elosia plane, and the two soon met up.

Using Noren Workshop’s cross-plane teleportation array, they underwent several complex spatial jumps and finally arrived at their destination.

As Jie Ming stepped out of the teleportation array, his mental energy sensed something amiss.

Instinctively activating the All-Purpose Eye, he observed the surrounding energy environment and spatial coefficients, reaching a startling conclusion.

This wasn’t a complete plane but a massive fragment of space floating in the endless void!

The fragment was vast enough to house an entire kingdom, but its edges bore irregular tears, surrounded by warped stars and void storms, both majestic and eerie.

“Oh? The All-Purpose Eye?”

Viola noticed Jie Ming’s energy fluctuations and, to his surprise, recognized the sorcery he was using.

“No big deal,” she said, waving dismissively. “This sorcery is a well-known observation tool in research circles. Even if you can’t build it yourself, many buy the model to construct it. But…”

She narrowed her eyes, stroking her chin as she leaned closer to Jie Ming, scrutinizing his mental fluctuations.

Her intense inspection reminded Jie Ming of a curious pet dog from his previous life.

Fortunately, the surrounding wizards didn’t find it odd. A few even noticed the anomaly and approached, mimicking Viola’s behavior.

“Whoa, you built this All-Purpose Eye yourself?” asked not Viola but another wizard who had come to observe.

This figure was cloaked in a black wizard robe, shrouded in faint black mist that obscured their form.

Judging by the voice, it seemed to be an older man.

Not just him—most of the observing wizards were similarly dressed, likely from the same faction.

Hearing the question, Jie Ming instinctively raised his arm in a defensive gesture.

Sensing the level-three wizard aura from the speaker, he restrained himself, avoiding overt hostility.

Seeing his wariness, the questioning elder and the other observing wizards stepped back slightly.

“You actually built the All-Purpose Eye yourself?!” Viola’s voice finally chimed in, slightly distorted with surprise.

Snapping out of her daze, she quickly stepped in front of Jie Ming like a protective eagle. “Hey, what’s this? Shoo, shoo, back off! Stop crowding around!”

Despite her reaction, the black-mist-clad wizards didn’t retreat. Instead, they laughed and drew closer.

“No need to be tense! We just want to make friends.”

“Yeah, yeah! It’s been ages since I’ve seen someone build the All-Purpose Eye on their own. Got a bit excited.”

“Little brother, what observation systems did you load into your All-Purpose Eye? Got a fate-based system? I’ll pay a fortune for your model if you do!”

“Are you nuts? This kid’s only a level-one wizard. How could he load a fate-based system?”

“Well, let’s at least add him as a contact! If you ever load a fate-based system, you’ve got to sell me the model!”

“Exactly! The All-Purpose Eye models in the database haven’t been updated in centuries. They’re such a hassle to use…”