Following the runes on the room key, Jie Ming quickly located his assigned accommodation.
Pushing open the tal door inscribed with soundproofing and protective runes, the sight that greeted him made him raise an eyebrow slightly.
According to the information on the key, each room ca equipped with a laboratory, but in reality, it was less a room with a lab and more a laboratory that had grudgingly carved out a small corner for resting.
Over ninety percent of the space was occupied by a comprehensive array of basic yet complete experintal equipnt—energy sensing matrices, material analyzers, rune engraving stations, and more.
The simple bed in the corner and a small washroom seed like re afterthoughts, existing only to fulfill basic physiological needs.
“Very wizardly. Very practical.” Jie Ming felt no dissatisfaction; instead, he nodded in approval.
This was the true lifestyle most wizards, including himself, were accustod to.
In his Golden Garden and the core laboratory in the Infernal Sulfur plane, he spent the vast majority of his ti in much the sa way—rest was rely a necessary interlude between research sessions.
If not for the fact that prolonged ntal tension reduced learning and research efficiency, many wizards would likely choose potions to eliminate the need for rest altogether.
He briefly inspected the standard laboratory equipnt; both precision and functionality exceeded the baseline, sufficient for most non-cutting-edge experints.
Of course, for him, these were re bonuses. The primary tools were the personal set maintained and upgraded by his black giant priests, carried within his internal world.
Learning that there was still so ti before the formal audience with Grand-ntor or the promotion ceremony, Jie Ming completely abandoned any notion of going out to explore.
Though the various researches in the Infernal Sulfur plane were handled by his efficient team of black giant priests, Jie Ming still preferred to remotely oversee key data and progress daily through the soul contract for peace of mind.
Beyond that, his core task during this respite was to digest and absorb the massive amount of knowledge he had purchased—location made no difference for study.
Thus, he began his “seclusion” right there in the “guest room.”
Three months passed quietly in this manner.
It was not until a sowhat urgent knock, carrying a specific frequency—like a stone dropped into a still lake—shattered the absolute silence of the laboratory, awakening Jie Ming from the vast ocean of spatial theories.
Frowning slightly, he reluctantly set aside the composite rune structure he was deducing, rose, and opened the door.
Standing outside was Viola.
She unceremoniously slipped past him into the room, not rushing to speak but instead scrutinizing Jie Ming from head to toe with eyes gleaming with an odd light, as if examining a rare specin.
Jie Ming, sowhat baffled by her gaze, spoke first: “What’s wrong, Senior Sister?”
Viola clicked her tongue in wonder: “You’re a real monster! Three whole months! I asked around—you truly never stepped out once, just holed up in here studying the entire ti?”
She pointed at the instrunts around them, clearly showing signs of frequent use: “Finally making it to headquarters, with so many novel things outside and so many peers to exchange ideas with, and you’re not tempted at all?”
Jie Ming shook his head, his tone calm: “There’s a lot of knowledge I want to learn during this break. For now, I’m not interested.”
“Not interested?” Viola narrowed her eyes suspiciously, leaning in closer, her nostrils flaring slightly as if sniffing sothing.
Then, a look of “as expected” appeared on her face: “I think it’s not that you’re uninterested—your greatest interest is learning knowledge itself, isn’t it?!”
Jie Ming paused, then realization dawned.
He rembered Viola’s unique “pain law.”
Since entering, she had likely subconsciously probed his emotional fluctuations.
The ntal fatigue from prolonged high-intensity study and the frustration from difficulties in understanding typically carried varying degrees of “pain.”
Yet from Jie Ming’s own experience, he felt no such pain: “Strictly speaking, my greatest interest isn’t learning knowledge—it’s improving my strength.”
Seeing that Jie Ming had grasped her probing, Viola didn’t hide it and rolled her eyes: “I’ve never t anyone as freakish as you! Is studying as natural to you as breathing, producing not even a trace of ‘pain’?”
Jie Ming smiled without explaining his uniqueness and shifted the topic: “Senior Sister ca specifically to find —it can’t just be to confirm if I’m a ‘freak,’ right?”
Reminded thus, Viola slapped her forehead: “Almost forgot the main thing! ntor Clark just sent word—Grand-ntor’s final preparations are complete. He plans to formally et us grand-disciples tomorrow.”
Jie Ming’s heart tightened as he seized the key point: “Grand-ntor is ready to advance?”
Viola thought for a mont and shook her head: “Not the final mont yet. According to ntor, this eting is more like a final adjustnt and preparation before the promotion, and incidentally to let our lineage get to know each other and beco familiar.”
“After all, the chance to observe an eighth-level promotion is once in a millennium. Grand-ntor hopes his descendants will be better prepared, gaining even a fraction more insight when the ti cos.”
Jie Ming nodded, indicating understanding.
It was like a pre-battle oath—both to boost morale and to clarify the rules.
Having conveyed the main matter, Viola watched Jie Ming return to the experint table, pick up a knowledge crystal, and prepare to resu his studies. Her mouth twitched involuntarily.
She felt that Jie Ming’s aura of indifference to the outside world, fully imrsed in the sea of knowledge, was growing more and more like ntor Clark—perhaps even surpassing him.
Not giving up, she quietly activated her law perception once more.
Still a “pure land”—no negative emotional fluctuations from grappling with profound knowledge, only a state approaching “serenity.”
“What a monster…” Viola muttered under her breath, her tone this ti carrying less teasing and more a complex mix of emotion with a trace of barely noticeable admiration.
Only those who had truly scaled the peaks of knowledge understood the imnse “pain” brought by the relentless ntal drain and setbacks on the rugged paths of theory.
She—or rather, the vast majority of wizards—could force themselves through bitter cultivation like Jie Ming with sheer willpower, but they could never find it so “sweet as nectar.”
“Before long, this guy might even surpass .” Viola gazed at Jie Ming’s focused profile.
Then she shook her head, no longer disturbing him, and quietly closed the door as she left.
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