Chapter 679: News and Musings on the Future

Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction, then took out the magic network terminal from a nearby cabinet.

Before entering seclusion, he had sealed away everything that might generate extra information to avoid interfering with his breakthrough.

Since he had not anticipated the seclusion would take so long, he had not set up any automatic reply function. Three hundred years of seclusion meant the terminal had accumulated three hundred years’ worth of unread messages.

His fingertip swept across the terminal’s surface, and a pale blue light lit up.

Then he was flooded with messages.

The list poured down like a waterfall in the projection.

Most were routine notifications from the Star Ring Federation and information pushes from Noren Workshop.

Jie Ming skimmed them quickly. They mainly concerned Noren Workshop’s development progress in several newborn planes and summary reports on the battles in several long-term “elite trial ground” planes.

These were not particularly important to him—merely reference material for understanding Noren Workshop’s movements.

He filtered out the routine pushes and focused on the private communication records.

His expression froze slightly.

Viola: Missed Calls (23)

Clark: Missed Calls (3)

“Holy shit!”

Jie Ming’s eyes widened.

Twenty-three missed calls from Senior Sister Viola was quite a few, but not particularly surprising given her personality. She was the type who would call once every few decades in a languid and elegant tone to casually ask about her junior’s recent situation. However, the three missed calls from Mentor Clark made Jie Ming’s heart skip a beat.

He knew his mentor too well.

Clark was a man of few words, with an eternally indifferent expression. He always spoke as concisely as possible.

Normally, unless Jie Ming took the initiative to ask for guidance, Clark almost never initiated contact.

On the rare occasions he did, it was always to convey something important.

Calling three times in a row like this definitely meant something significant had happened.

Seeing that his mentor had left no message, Jie Ming immediately dialed Clark’s number without hesitation.

On the crystal shard, runes flickered rhythmically, indicating an attempt to establish a cross-plane connection.

The communication request icon spun a few times…

A moment later, there was no answer.

As the terminal automatically switched to voicemail mode, Jie Ming took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, “Mentor, this is Jie Ming. I have just finished a research project and saw your missed calls. I’m very sorry for not answering in time. Please contact me anytime if you need anything. I am at your disposal.”

He ended the call.

Without any hesitation, he then dialed Viola’s number.

This time, the connection was established quickly.

A light screen projected above the crystal shard, revealing Viola’s face.

She seemed to be sitting in an elegantly furnished study. Behind her were dark wooden bookshelves and a crystal vase holding pale purple flowers. After three hundred years, her appearance had not changed at all.

That was normal. A sixth-ring wizard’s lifeform had long been stabilized; time left almost no traces on the surface.

She was still wearing that well-tailored dark blue robe, with the badge of a Master of Potionology pinned at her collar.

Her silver-gray hair was loosely tied behind her head, with a few strands hanging beside her fair neck.

Her features were delicate and dignified, and the corners of her mouth still carried that familiar, enigmatic elegant smile.

“My, my.” Viola’s voice came through the light screen, carrying a trace of barely detectable delight. “Isn’t this our little junior? Three hundred years. If Felix hadn’t sent word that you weren’t dead, I would have thought you’d accidentally died in some corner of a plane.”

Jie Ming gave a dry cough. “Senior Sister, my apologies. I was in seclusion researching some things. I didn’t expect time to pass so quickly.”

“Seclusion researching some things?” Viola’s eyebrows rose slightly. A playful glint flashed in her pale green eyes. “Three whole centuries, and you didn’t even have time to answer a single call?”

“More or less.” Jie Ming gave a vague reply and quickly steered the topic back. “Senior Sister, I saw that Mentor called me three times, but I can’t reach him now. Do you know what it’s about?”

Viola’s expression became slightly more serious. The playful smile faded, replaced by a rare look of earnestness. “The old man is about to advance,” she said.

Jie Ming was stunned.

“Advance?”

“Mhm.” Viola leaned back in her chair and crossed her long legs. “After he returned with that activated plane wizard from Starfall, he finished collecting the data. He said it was about time and is preparing to advance.”

Jie Ming drew in a sharp breath.

What kind of person was his mentor?

He was known as the greatest genius in Noren Workshop’s history, and even now Jie Ming felt the title was well-deserved. A monstrous talent who could learn a new law after just two glances and had set his ambition on studying all laws before advancing.

At sixth-ring, he could already suppress a group of seventh-ring wizards, and Jie Ming even suspected that activated plane wizards of the same rank might not be able to beat his mentor!

Yet precisely because of his mentor’s grand ambitions, his advancement was extremely difficult. Jie Ming had never expected his mentor to advance in a short time.

But now…

“Has Mentor… researched all known laws?” Jie Ming’s voice carried a trace of disbelief.

“More than that.” Viola’s tone became somewhat peculiar, as if stating a fact and recounting a legend at the same time. “The old man seems to have taken it even further… He’s simply a monster!”

Jie Ming fell silent for a moment.

Come to think of it, Mentor Clark advancing was not entirely incomprehensible.

After all, when he had tried to study the activated plane back then, he had already revealed very important information: his research on various laws had probably entered the final stage!

Jie Ming suddenly thought of another question. “By the way, does advancing from sixth-ring to seventh-ring wizard take a very long time?”

“If you include all the preparation work before the actual advancement, then yes, it takes quite a while. But if you’re asking purely about the breakthrough itself after everything is ready, it actually won’t be too slow,” Viola said, swinging her foot.

“Then since three hundred years have already passed, is Mentor… alright?” Jie Ming asked, his tone somewhat hesitant.

Viola rolled her eyes. “When I said it’s fast, I was talking about ordinary wizards. The old man has mastered an absurd number of laws. Completing the advancement for each one individually is definitely not something that can be done quickly!”

Jie Ming thought about it and agreed. After all, the number of law types Mentor Clark had mastered was probably beyond even his own ability to count.

Accumulating and deriving all those laws to the point where advancement was possible would require an extremely long time.

“However… it didn’t take as long as you might imagine,” Viola picked up the teacup beside her and took a sip. “He said the data was sufficient. You know what kind of person the old man is—he doesn’t say things he isn’t confident about.”

Jie Ming certainly knew that.

Clark never spoke unless he was confident.

When he said “about time,” to others it meant “nine out of ten chance of success.”

“Even so, I probably won’t be able to see Mentor anytime soon,” Jie Ming said, unable to suppress the astonishment in his voice. “No wonder I couldn’t reach him earlier.”

“Mhm.” Viola set down her teacup. “He went back to his private plane. It’ll probably be another few centuries. It’s normal that you can’t reach him. He should be setting up various protective and auxiliary facilities for the advancement. After all, although the old man is strong, the more powerful the wizard, the greater the commotion during advancement, and the more likely it is to attract trouble.”

Jie Ming slowly exhaled.

Advancing from sixth-ring to seventh-ring was a leap from “law solidification” to “law expansion or deepening.”

Strictly speaking, seventh-ring wizards were somewhat similar to the Void Refinement Realm in the cultivation system. There was actually no huge qualitative change; it was entirely preparation for advancing to eighth-ring.

Of course, that did not mean seventh-ring wizards were weak.

After all, a seventh-ring wizard’s law expansion or deepening meant they had already mastered a massive amount of new knowledge.

And for wizards, knowledge was power!

Once Clark successfully advanced…

Jie Ming didn’t dare to imagine.

A person who could defeat a group of seventh-ring wizards while still at sixth-ring—what level of strength would he reach after advancing to seventh-ring?

Ordinary eighth-ring wizards would probably have to yield to him.

“I understand,” Jie Ming’s voice returned to calm, though waves still surged in his heart. “Thank you for letting me know, Senior Sister.”

“No need to thank me.” Viola revealed that elegant yet slightly twisted smile again. “Oh right, since you’ve come out of seclusion, come find me when you have time. After the old man advances, we students should show some appreciation. And besides…”

She drew out her tone. “I recently developed a new batch of Pain Potions of quite excellent quality. I need a suitable test subject.”

The corner of Jie Ming’s mouth twitched.

“I’ll try to make time.”

“That means you’ve agreed.” Viola’s smile deepened. “I’m looking forward to it, junior.”

The communication ended.

Jie Ming stared at the darkening light screen for a few seconds, then let out a long breath.

His mentor was about to advance.

Yet the first thing Jie Ming thought about was his own future path.

Ever since achieving Dao Integration, he had realized he had somewhat underestimated the Dao Integration Realm’s mastery over laws.

He hadn’t dared think about it before, but now…

With his mentor as precedent, perhaps he could try to imitate it while still at sixth-ring?

Hiss!!!

After all, Mentor Clark’s combat power was truly too astonishing!

But those were matters for later. There were still many things he needed to do now.

Jie Ming put away the magic network terminal and turned to the Black Giant priest who had been quietly waiting on the side.

“Continue. With the population explosion in the plane, the corresponding population management structure needs adjustment…”