Chapter 331 The Commission
Black gathered his thoughts slightly and began explaining his situation.
As a mber of an elite combat unit, his next assignnt was to a second-line plane battlefield.
It was well known that any plane requiring elite intervention was far from easy.
Correspondingly, as “support,” so basic intelligence on these planes circulated.
“According to the intel I’ve received, the plane we’re heading to this ti… is extrely 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 judgnt 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 with the core function of resisting illusions or ntal 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 thods—from black giants to rune witch artifacts, Mysterious Astral Mortal Dust Barrier to internal cave heaven—it seed comprehensive, but resistance to high-intensity illusions and ntal 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 thod’s adaptive resistance was strong but passive, requiring ti to activate.
“Can’t always rely on the Body Forging thod 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 ntal interference—no problem.”
He shifted tone, stating conditions. “For pricing, I can give you a discount. But I have a requirent—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 paraters ant leaking so combat intelligence.
But conversely, for such valuable firsthand data, Jie Ming would undoubtedly invest more effort, likely ensuring higher artifact quality.
For soone 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 ti, and Black’s requirents were broad, deposit and delivery tiline were hard to pin down imdiately.
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 dimd.
After the call, Black sat in his laboratory, not fully at ease.
His sudden contact with this near-unacquainted sa-year genius stemd from his ntor—Oswald’s suggestion.
Originally, Black planned to seek another alchemist more familiar and specialized in ntal protection.
But before deciding, Oswald learned of it and casually remarked, “Perhaps ask that kid Jie Ming?”
Though puzzled—Jie Ming showed no particular ntal protection expertise in academy—trusting his ntor’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 sches.
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 nas.
“Maybe… commission another similar artifact as insurance…”
He thought, selecting the next potential collaborator.
…
…
Ending the call with Black, Jie Ming didn’t start imdiately but habitually deduced first.
Returning to the experint table, fingertips unconsciously tracing the smooth surface, two related knowledges rapidly integrating in his mind.
For protection against illusions and ntal 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, augntation—like armoring the mind.
Sustained release of states like “mind barrier” or “heart-clearing incantation” boosted ntal 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 ergency 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, fundantally severing internal-external information exchange, rendering illusions and ntal 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 developnt, wizard artifacts or cultivation heart-protecting treasures were rarely single-type—mostly composite.
But limited by material rune capacity and energy flux, sa-tier artifacts emphasized certain functions.
Pursuing all three powerfully demanded higher-tier materials, skyrocketing costs.
Final products might appear diocre 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 augntation.
Augntation’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 augntation, 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 sche—solve at the root: isolate the user’s consciousness core from external illusion forces entirely.”
with clear objective, isolation beca optimal.
Create a pure ntal space, safeguarding Black’s consciousness—let external wonders rage; I remain unmoved.
This maximized avoidance of instant subrsion upon entry, providing stable long-term protection.
Yet isolation’s known drawbacks erged.
Non-activated, long standby possible; activated, astonishing consumption and wear.
Facing worst-case—plane-wide powerful ntal interference and illusions—isolation duration might even fall shorter than augntation.
Prolonged high-load operation extrely tested core material durability and rune structure stability.
aning 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 imdiately; laboratory lights brightened, multiple auxiliary computation and design screens activating simultaneously.
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