Chapter 331: The Commission

Chapter 331 The Commission

Black gathered his thoughts slightly and began explaining his situation.

As a member of an elite combat unit, his next assignment was to a second-line plane battlefield.

It was well known that any plane requiring elite intervention was far from easy.

Correspondingly, as “support,” some basic intelligence on these planes circulated.

“According to the intel I’ve received, the plane we’re heading to this time… is extremely bizarre. It seems to be a world where the boundary between illusion and reality is extraordinarily blurred.” Black’s brows furrowed slightly.

“The first batch of wizards who entered sent back vague reports, but the core points to one thing—in there, a single misstep can lead to sinking into illusions, unable to distinguish true from false.”

“Fortunately, preliminary judgment is that they haven’t suffered heavy casualties; it’s more like they’re trapped. So our group is going for support and rescue.”

He looked up, gaze focusing on Jie Ming through the screen. “Thus, I hope you can craft a witch artifact for me with the core function of resisting illusions or mental interference. I don’t know much about alchemical products, but I’ve heard you have ways with special witch artifacts.”

After hearing Black’s account, Jie Ming unconsciously stroked his chin.

But Jie Ming wasn’t pondering weapons; he thought of another aspect.

Black’s request illuminated a blind spot in his own defense system.

He quickly calculated inwardly.

With myriad methods—from black giants to rune witch artifacts, Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier to internal cave heaven—it seemed comprehensive, but resistance to high-intensity illusions and mental interference was indeed lacking.

The Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier defended curses and countered prophecies but fared poorly against direct mind-twisting forces.

His Body Forging Method’s adaptive resistance was strong but passive, requiring time to activate.

“Can’t always rely on the Body Forging Method to tough it out…” Jie Ming thought darkly.

Black’s request offered a perfect practice opportunity to test what protective gear his technology could produce.

Clarifying this, Jie Ming nodded, responding calmly. “I understand the situation. Crafting a witch artifact to resist illusions and mental interference—no problem.”

He shifted tone, stating conditions. “For pricing, I can give you a discount. But I have a requirement—you must provide complete post-war data on the artifact’s specific performance in that plane war, including activation states, energy consumption, protection thresholds, encountered interference types and intensities—everything recordable.”

Black pondered briefly.

Exposing artifact parameters meant leaking some combat intelligence.

But conversely, for such valuable firsthand data, Jie Ming would undoubtedly invest more effort, likely ensuring higher artifact quality.

For someone stepping into unknown dangers, benefits outweighed drawbacks.

“Agreed.” Black nodded after slight thought. “I’ll do my best with data recording.”

Since Jie Ming was crafting this specific function for the first time, and Black’s requirements were broad, deposit and delivery timeline were hard to pin down immediately.

Black considered and gave a clear deadline. “I have about a year to prepare. As long as it’s completed within a year, it’s fine.”

“One year is sufficient.” Jie Ming nodded, accepting the commission. “Then, once preliminary design is done and costs and specifics estimated, I’ll contact you to finalize details.”

“Alright, thank you.” Black concluded, and they ended the call.

The screen dimmed.

After the call, Black sat in his laboratory, not fully at ease.

His sudden contact with this near-unacquainted same-year genius stemmed from his mentor—Oswald’s suggestion.

Originally, Black planned to seek another alchemist more familiar and specialized in mental protection.

But before deciding, Oswald learned of it and casually remarked, “Perhaps ask that kid Jie Ming?”

Though puzzled—Jie Ming showed no particular mental protection expertise in academy—trusting his mentor’s eye, Black tried contacting him.

In the call, Jie Ming instantly pierced his unconscious “presence dilution” and recognized him, startling Black and reevaluating Jie Ming’s true strength.

Yet subsequent exchange showed Jie Ming seemingly unfamiliar with such artifacts, lacking mature schemes.

This contradiction left Black uncertain.

“After all, it’s that kind of place… better have backups.” He mused.

Hesitating, Black reopened his contact list, fingers sliding over familiar names.

“Maybe… commission another similar artifact as insurance…”

He thought, selecting the next potential collaborator.

…

…

Ending the call with Black, Jie Ming didn’t start immediately but habitually deduced first.

Returning to the experiment table, fingertips unconsciously tracing the smooth surface, two related knowledges rapidly integrating in his mind.

For protection against illusions and mental interference—whether wizard-system “mind protection studies” or Great Dao Book Pavilion’s “soul-stabilizing” and “delusion-breaking” arts—the core principles broadly fell into three categories:

First, augmentation—like armoring the mind.

Sustained release of states like “mind barrier” or “heart-clearing incantation” boosted mental resistance, passively repelling external intrusions.

Advantages: preparable in advance, stable against common interference.

Disadvantages: limited duration, capped intensity—exceeding threshold could shatter protection instantly.

Second, awakening—like an emergency alarm.

When the user’s mind fell, trapped in illusion, forceful soul stimulation—like “soul-anchoring clear tone” or “pain feedback arrays”—forcibly roused them.

Advantages: targeted, reversible for active interference.

Disadvantages: reaction delay; awakening strength depended on interference intensity and artifact power—if illusions too deep, awakening could fail.

Finally, isolation—constructing an absolutely safe “mind chamber.”

Directly erecting barriers around consciousness, fundamentally severing internal-external information exchange, rendering illusions and mental interference untouchable to the core.

Advantages: once-and-for-all; while intact, near-immune to similar influences.

Disadvantages: massive energy drain; maintaining required constant high consumption, severely testing material and rune/array stability; could impair normal external perception.

Of course, after eons of development, wizard artifacts or cultivation heart-protecting treasures were rarely single-type—mostly composite.

But limited by material rune capacity and energy flux, same-tier artifacts emphasized certain functions.

Pursuing all three powerfully demanded higher-tier materials, skyrocketing costs.

Final products might appear mediocre at tier, unremarkable across aspects.

Jie Ming analyzed with Black’s intel.

“If the entire plane is problematic, almost certainly, illusion attacks surge like tides upon entry. High ‘first-encounter kill’ risk.”

“User also faces a plane war potentially lasting decades. Artifact needs ultra-long combat sustainability. Interference intensity unknown—mild or abruptly spiking in areas.”

Based on this, he quickly eliminated augmentation.

Augmentation’s duration was a hard flaw—frequent activation or maintenance unreliable in unknown long missions.

More dangerously, fixed intensity failing plane erosion could leave the user unknowingly afflicted—worse than no protection.

Awakening was shelved next.

Though more proactive than augmentation, it required the user already affected—dangerous “window period.”

In perilous foreign planes, even a second’s cognitive deviation could be fatal.

Moreover, insufficient awakening strength against plane-level interference rendered the artifact useless.

“Thus, the safest scheme—solve at the root: isolate the user’s consciousness core from external illusion forces entirely.”

with clear objective, isolation became optimal.

Create a pure mental space, safeguarding Black’s consciousness—let external wonders rage; I remain unmoved.

This maximized avoidance of instant submersion upon entry, providing stable long-term protection.

Yet isolation’s known drawbacks emerged.

Non-activated, long standby possible; activated, astonishing consumption and wear.

Facing worst-case—plane-wide powerful mental interference and illusions—isolation duration might even fall shorter than augmentation.

Prolonged high-load operation extremely tested core material durability and rune structure stability.

Meaning crafting such an artifact would cost dearly.

Far from daunted, Jie Ming’s eyes brightened slightly.

“From a product perspective, high wear seems more suitable…”

After all, beyond data collection, it was for profit—the more the user spent, the more he earned!

Since Black needed top-tier safety, paying premium was fair exchange.

“Excellent, just do it.” Jie Ming’s lips curved in a smile, hesitation gone.

Action now.

He rose immediately; laboratory lights brightened, multiple auxiliary computation and design screens activating simultaneously.