Chapter 611: Transformation

Chapter 611: Transformation

Ten years later.

The sky over the Infernal Sulfur Plane had changed.

The gray-red hues remained, yet they were no longer the oppressive, suffocating gloom that pressed down on one’s chest.

The firmament had risen higher, and the cloud layers had grown thicker.

Although the distant volcanic craters still spewed smoke, the fumes were now scattered by the wind once they reached midair, no longer lingering year-round as before.

Jie Ming stood outside the laboratory, gazing upward for a moment before turning and stepping into the teleportation array.

The light faded, and he appeared on an observation platform at the edge of the plane.

The platform floated in the void, with the eternally twisting colors of the endless chaotic void beneath his feet and the slowly expanding boundary of the Infernal Sulfur Plane behind him.

An engineering administrator wearing a gray robe was already waiting there, holding a data slate. Upon seeing Jie Ming arrive, the administrator hurriedly stepped forward. “Lord Jie Ming.” The administrator bowed respectfully. “The preliminary engineering for the plane fusion has been fully completed.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Jie Ming nodded and walked to the edge of the platform, overlooking the growing landmass below.

The ten planes he had brought back from the parallel world ten years ago had, after a full decade of splicing, anchoring, and fusing by the Star Ring Federation engineering teams, completely merged with the Infernal Sulfur Plane.

The newborn land extended outward from the original boundaries, with gray-black volcanic rock and deep-brown sedimentary rock interlaced like an old garment patched all over.

It was ugly, yes, but the area had genuinely expanded.

“Essentially, everything that artificial means could accomplish has been done. The rest will depend on time for complete natural fusion,” the administrator said while flipping through the data slate.

“According to calculations, this will take several centuries. The Infernal Sulfur Plane’s area has now expanded more than twentyfold, and resource reserves have increased accordingly. Additionally…” He paused, a trace of emotion entering his tone. “According to the latest measurements, the size of the Infernal Sulfur Plane is now sufficient to advance from a small plane to a medium plane.”

Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction. “Thank you. We’ve relied heavily on you all during this time.”

The surface area of a medium plane, in his previous life, was roughly comparable to those large gas giants, and the usable living space had increased dramatically.

It was a pity that the wizard civilization in the parallel world had lived too miserably, any slightly larger planes had been converted into warships, so Jie Ming hadn’t had much choice in what he could select. “You are too kind, my lord. This is simply our duty. If the inspection is satisfactory, I will report the task as complete.” “Naturally…”

After bidding farewell to the entire engineering team and returning to the laboratory, a black giant priest was already waiting at the door.

It held a crystal disk recording the report. The silver-white patterns on its body surface were denser than ten years ago, and its eyes were more lively. “My lord, the resource survey reports for all ten planes have been fully compiled.” The black giant priest handed over the report. “The situation is not optimistic.”

Jie Ming accepted the report and slowly scrolled through it.

Just as he had expected, although those planes had not been transformed into warships, they had still been ruthlessly exploited by the parallel world’s wizard civilization. Metal veins were almost nonexistent, energy crystal layers had been mined dry, and even most of the geothermal energy had been drained away.

Even more troublesome was the pollution.

Large amounts of toxins and radiation left behind by war lingered on those planes. In some areas, the pollution concentration was so high that even low-rank wizards could not stay for long.

“It’s good that the origin is relatively intact,” Jie Ming said calmly as he closed the report.

The black giant priest nodded. “Indeed. Although the wizards of the parallel world were mad, they also knew not to touch the plane’s origin. As long as the origin remains, the resources will recover sooner or later.”

“That’s good enough. Have the habitable area statistics been calculated?”

Hearing this question, the black giant priest grew somewhat excited. “They have also been tallied. The increase in habitable area is enormous. In fact, aside from the water regions, we can inhabit almost everywhere else.”

“Pollution has little impact on our race. After all, elemental beings have far higher resistance to toxins and radiation than flesh-and-blood creatures.”

Jie Ming gave a soft “mm” and walked to the window, gazing at the gray-red sky outside.

The actual usable area had indeed increased—this was good news.

However, although the plane’s origin could slowly repair everything, that was a long process measured in millennia.

Therefore, a portion of manpower would still need to be specially allocated later to clean up the pollution.

After all, with such a large plane, Jie Ming had no intention of cultivating only the black giants as a single race.

But those matters could wait.

Jie Ming withdrew his gaze and turned to face the black giant priest. “The usable land area of the Infernal Sulfur Plane has increased twentyfold. It’s about time to continue expanding the population.”

The black giant priest’s eyes brightened.

Having followed Jie Ming for so many years, it understood exactly what those words meant.

“Previously, due to the plane’s size limitations, the black giant population could only be maintained at slightly over ten billion,” Jie Ming said calmly, though something flickered in his eyes. “Now that there is more space, we can expand the army.”

The black giant priest’s breathing clearly quickened.

Ten billion black giants—that had been the carrying limit of the Infernal Sulfur Plane.

Any more, and living conditions would become excessively crowded.

But now the plane had advanced, and the land had increased, meaning their race could grow strong once more.

“However, before expanding the army…” Jie Ming’s tone shifted, and the corner of his mouth curved into a faint smile. “First, upgrade the incubation pools.”

He raised his hand, and a silver-white crystal appeared in his palm.

This was one of the most important research achievements he had made over the years.

Through in-depth study of the black giant leader Molten Mountain, combined with the parallel world’s wizard civilization’s radical—almost insane—biological modification techniques, he had finally made a breakthrough in the black giants’ genetic sequence.

The parallel world’s wizard civilization was indeed backward in many aspects, but in the radical nature of biological modification, they were several streets ahead of the present world’s wizard civilization. That kind of madness, born from the edge of life and death, where cost was irrelevant and they dared to gamble with an entire race, was something the present world’s wizard civilization could never learn.

And Jie Ming had extracted all those core biochemical modification techniques from their central database.

“Based on current technology projections, the new incubation pools should be able to raise the innate foundation of newborn black giants by thirty percent.” Jie Ming handed the silver-white crystal, which recorded a vast amount of knowledge, to the black giant priest. “And this is a comprehensive enhancement of physical quality, energy absorption efficiency, and soul strength.”

The black giant priest held the crystal with trembling hands.

It meant that the new generation of black giants, from the moment of their birth, would be thirty percent stronger than their parents.

“The material list is at the end,” Jie Ming said. “Go and prepare.”

The black giant priest bowed deeply, cradling the crystal as it turned and left, its steps so swift it seemed to be flying.

Jie Ming watched its departing figure and suddenly found it somewhat amusing.

After so many years, this was the first time he had seen it so excited.

He turned and walked out of the laboratory, flying toward the direction of the incubation pools.

The incubation pools were gathered in the deepest part of the plains, covered externally by a massive building that spanned dozens of kilometers.

After years of modification, the appearance of the incubation pools had undergone tremendous change.

The black metal outer shell was densely engraved with countless runes. Inside were hundreds of enormous cultivation tanks, each capable of incubating tens of thousands of black giants simultaneously.

Jie Ming landed at the entrance of the incubation pools and strode inside.

Within, hundreds of black giant priests were busily dismantling the old cultivation tanks and transporting new materials.

Upon seeing Jie Ming enter, they all paused their work and bowed in greeting.

Jie Ming waved his hand, indicating for them to continue.

He walked through the bustling crowd and headed toward the deepest part of the incubation pools.