Chapter 588: The Abnormality in the Academy and the Prodigy
Inside the laboratory, Jie Ming held his hands out with palms facing upward. A ball of pale golden light was slowly condensing in his palms.
The final step.
His spiritual power acted like a precise carving knife, inscribing the last rune inside the ball of light.
It was the core for solidifying the soul and body—the finishing touch for the entire Longevity Potion.
The mont the rune took shape, the light contracted violently.
A pill the size of a dragon’s eye erged from the light and fell into Jie Ming’s palm.
It was pale gold all over, with faint flowing light patterns on its surface.
Jie Ming stared at it for a few seconds, then placed it directly into his mouth.
The pill lted as soon as it entered his throat. A warm sensation spread throughout his entire body.
Those warm currents moved like living things, automatically seeking out every corner of his body.
Muscles, bones, blood, internal organs…
In the end, they even broke through the boundary between matter and soul, reaching the edge of his soul.
Then these molecular substances began to operate according to the rune structures arranged during its creation.
The aging cells were reactivated, the loosening soul structures were reinforced once more, and the state of both body and soul was fixed at its peak condition.
Jie Ming closed his eyes and felt the subtle changes.
As a wizard artifact capable of symbiotic coexistence with the human body, the Longevity Potion’s effect was not explosive, but gentle and silent like nourishing rain.
It would not make you suddenly stronger, but it would keep you permanently in your “strongest” state.
A mont later, Jie Ming opened his eyes and nodded in satisfaction.
“Success.”
From his actual experience, the effect had fully reached the standard level of a Longevity Potion.
His magic network terminal suddenly vibrated.
Jie Ming looked down and was montarily stunned.
Today was the day he was supposed to go to Noren Academy No. 147.
He had actually forgotten about it.
Jie Ming quickly walked out of the laboratory, made simple preparations, and stepped onto the teleportation array.
Spatial energy surged around him. A few seconds later, the scene before his eyes changed completely.
Noren Academy No. 147.
Jie Ming walked out of the teleportation array and stood in the academy’s central square, taking a deep breath.
The place had changed quite a bit since his last visit.
More buildings, more complete formations, and denser crowds.
After nearly a thousand years since its founding, it was only natural for the facilities to beco increasingly perfected.
He walked forward along the central avenue, planning to report to the instructors’ office first.
But after only a few steps, his brows furrowed slightly.
Today… there were quite a lot of wizards on the road.
That was normal for an academy—more wizards were to be expected.
What was abnormal was their ranks.
Jie Ming’s gaze swept over the passing wizards.
Those wearing apprentice robes were apprentices; there was nothing particularly unusual about the wizard apprentices.
But those wearing formal wizard robes…
Third-ring.
Fourth-ring.
Fifth-ring.
Another fifth-ring.
Yet another fifth-ring.
Jie Ming stopped walking, his frown deepening.
Noren Academy No. 147 had been established for less than a thousand years. Compared to academies with lower sequence numbers, it was still very young.
Under normal circumstances, considering the advancent speed of wizards and the fact that this plane had not been developed for very long, the average aptitude of graduates should not be particularly high. Therefore, the instructors here should mainly consist of second- and third-ring formal wizards.
Yet the formal wizards he was seeing now were generally third- or fourth-ring, and even fifth-ring ones were not uncommon.
Jie Ming looked toward a fifth-ring wizard hurrying past in the distance and sensed the other party’s aura.
Confird.
Although the aura had reached fifth-ring standards, the “sense of threat” it gave him was far weaker than that of a normal fifth-ring wizard.
It was like a blade that had been sharpened but was made of soft material—intimidating to look at, but it wouldn’t last long in actual combat.
“It seems they were forcibly advanced…” Jie Ming stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Under what circumstances would a wizard be forced to advance? Besides accidents, the most likely reason was an even more brutal war.
The first thing Jie Ming thought of was the wizard war several hundred years ago between Noren Workshop, the Chaos Secret Cult, and the Tower of Annihilation.
That war had been extrely fierce. Many elite wizards had been forced to break through to fifth-ring in order to survive.
Those people should be the ones he was seeing now.
In other words, these were the batches of elite wizards who had completed the elite combat unit selection even before Noren Academy No. 147 was officially established—or right around the ti it was founded—and had ultimately been gathered into this academy.
By calculation, Jie Ming himself was also part of the earliest batch of elite wizards.
But the problem was… why were they all here?
Jie Ming continued walking forward, his gaze constantly scanning.
More and more fifth-ring wizards entered his field of vision.
It was understandable for one or two elite combat unit wizards to occasionally co and take on teaching duties.
But so many of them being here was far too unusual.
Elite combat unit wizards had no need to take on teaching tasks at all.
Although these wizards belonged to Noren Academy No. 147, under normal circumstances they should not be visible here.
Most of the ti, the ones actually responsible for teaching duties should be the new batch of wizards cultivated after the academy had gotten on track.
“Where did the original batch of young instructors go?”
A wave of doubt rose in Jie Ming’s heart.
He had also paid attention to news from Noren Workshop recently, and there had been no large-scale wars.
Just as he was pondering, he suddenly sensed sothing unusual.
It was an instinctive warning from his cultivator instincts.
His body, which had undergone countless instances of adaptive evolution, combined with the “unity of heaven and man” state he had beco more proficient in after gaining enlightennt in the Information Plane, allowed him to perceive subtle “discordances” in the surrounding environnt.
In an instant, Jie Ming locked onto the source of that feeling.
In the shadows beneath a pillar in the distant corridor, sothing was there.
Soone was watching him.
Without stopping, Jie Ming turned sharply and walked straight toward that direction.
The shadow was silent for a mont, then a figure stepped out on its own.
It was a woman.
With long black hair and a black wizard robe, she looked like a walking shadow.
Her features were delicate, but her eyes carried a strange, profound depth, as if they could see through people’s hearts.
The mont Jie Ming saw her, the corners of his mouth curved upward slightly.
“So it’s you. It’s been a long ti, Seraphina.”
An old acquaintance.
Back when he graduated from Noren Academy and participated in the elite trial, she was one of the other ten-ring aptitude geniuses who had also co from Noren Academy.
She specialized in dark sorcery, illusion techniques, and stealth, and was skilled in ntal infiltration and precise assassination.
After more than ten years, her aura had beco even deeper. She should also be fifth-ring now.
Seraphina looked at him, her profound eyes filled with a gaze as if looking at a monster.
“Jie Ming.”
Her voice was sowhat dry. “The stealth technique I used to hide over there was personally taught to by my ntor. Even a sixth-ring wizard should not have been able to discover .”
Jie Ming nodded. “Oh.”
“Oh?” Seraphina’s eye twitched. “That’s all you have to say?”
Jie Ming thought for a mont, then raised his hands and gave her a light clap. “Then… you’re amazing. Very impressive?”
Seraphina took a deep breath and cald herself.
“Fine, I won’t argue with you.” She looked him up and down. “Your strength… has risen by a huge margin again? Why do I feel like you’ve beco even more dangerous than before?”
Jie Ming said modestly, “It’s nothing, just a slight improvent.”
Seraphina rolled her eyes.
Jie Ming did not continue the topic and asked directly, “Why are you here? Also, what’s going on with the academy? Why are there so many fifth-ring wizards?”
Seraphina’s expression beca sowhat subtle.
“The reason I’m here should be the sa as yours—nothing much to do lately, so I ca to help out.” She paused. “As for these fifth-ring wizards… I have heard so news, but it doesn’t seem enough to cause the current situation.”
“What news?”
Seraphina replied, “The graduation plane used by this batch of graduates was provided by one of the academy’s earliest specially hired instructors.”
Jie Ming was montarily stunned, then imdiately understood.
After completing ten years of study, wizard apprentices were required to participate in their first planar war upon graduation.
The sources of these selected planes varied, but most were discovered by instructors within the academy.
Under normal circumstances, when high-ranking wizards wanted to initiate a planar war, they had to spend their own military rits to hire an army.
Although not hiring elite combat units would reduce the cost sowhat, it was still an astronomical figure.
Cooperating with the academy was different.
A large portion of the military rits spent on hiring wizards could be saved.
Although most of those who ca were apprentices, the majority of these apprentices would quickly advance to formal wizards during the battle.
As long as a few mid-to-high-level combatants were hired additionally, a plane could be conquered at low cost.
For high-ranking wizards, this was quite a worthwhile deal.
However, Noren Academy No. 147 had been established for too short a ti and did not have enough sixth-ring or higher wizards. Naturally, the planes they discovered could not compare to those of other academies. Many tis, they could only borrow graduation planes from other academies.
So the fact that soone was providing their own plane this ti was indeed special news for the academy.
But just as Seraphina had said, this alone should not be enough to make so many fifth-ring wizards co to serve as instructors.
The current situation was that the original batch of wizard instructors in the academy had disappeared sowhere, which was why they had been entrusted by Dean Avery Knight to take on teaching duties.
Even if this graduation plane was sowhat special, there was no need for so many instructors to go along with it.
Jie Ming looked at Seraphina.
Seraphina shrugged. “That’s all I know. If you want to know the specifics, you should ask the dean yourself.”
Jie Ming nodded and continued walking forward. “Alright, let’s talk again later. I’ll go report in first.”
After a few steps, he glanced back at the shadow beneath the pillar.
There was nothing there.
But he knew Seraphina had hidden herself inside again.
This woman’s habits had not changed at all.
Several months passed in the blink of an eye.
Jie Ming’s life beca exceptionally regular: every ten days he would co to Noren Academy No. 147, teach for half a day, then return to continue his own research. This teaching assignnt was exactly as Dean Avery Knight had said—it really did not take much effort.
The timing of his current assignnt was rather special. The previous batch of students had just graduated and gone off to participate in the planar war.
The new batch of students had not yet been recruited.
Those currently remaining in the academy were the older students who had already studied for five years and were in a critical phase of advancent.
These students had solid foundations and clear needs, so there was no need for special care.
From Jie Ming’s own experience as a wizard apprentice, if it were not for showing respect to formal wizards, these students would have preferred to study on their own every day and would not have cared much about teaching.
Therefore, every ti Jie Ming ca, he only needed to follow the lesson plan, explaining so basic theories and advanced techniques of Alchemy Technique.
At most, he would leave a little ti at the end of class to answer a few questions from the wizard apprentices.
It was very relaxed.
As for the issue of the unusually high number of fifth-ring wizards in the academy, Jie Ming had also asked Dean Avery Knight about it through the magic network terminal.
However, the other party seed to be busy with sothing. The ssage had been sent but sank like a stone into the sea, with no reply.
Jie Ming did not pay it too much mind.
The situation was indeed a bit strange, but it did not affect him personally.
From conversations with other wizards, there seed to be no major issues.
So these supporting wizards quickly resud their usual routine—teaching when it was ti to teach, researching when it was ti to research—without interfering with each other.
On this day, Jie Ming had just finished a class on “Rune Optimization in Energy Conduction” and was preparing to leave the classroom.
“Lord Jie Ming!”
A ntor ca running hurriedly from the other end of the corridor, his expression sowhat urgent.
Jie Ming stopped. “What’s wrong?”
“There is an ergency eting. Please head to the conference room now.”
Jie Ming raised an eyebrow, asked no further questions, and followed the other party toward the conference room.
The conference room was on the top floor of the academy’s main building—a hall that could accommodate over a hundred people.
When Jie Ming pushed open the door and entered, quite a few people were already seated inside.
His gaze swept across the room, and his heart stirred slightly.
Those present were basically all fifth-ring wizards. A rough count showed thirty to forty of them.
Two sixth-ring wizards sat at the head position—they were the highest combat strength in the academy besides Avery Knight.
With the dean absent, this was essentially the highest leadership level of the academy at the current stage.
Jie Ming spotted Seraphina in the crowd. She nodded to him, and he nodded back before finding an empty seat in the fifth-ring wizard section and sitting down.
After waiting a few more minutes, several more fifth-ring wizards arrived one after another.
One of the sixth-ring wizards at the head position stood up.
He was an elderly man with graying hair and beard, a solemn expression, and wearing a deep blue wizard robe.
“Since most people are here, let’s begin.”
The conference room fell silent.
The old man’s gaze swept over everyone as he spoke slowly, “The reason we have gathered everyone today is that a prodigy has appeared among this year’s students in the academy.”
Jie Ming had originally thought it would be bad news. Upon hearing the word “prodigy,” he beca interested instead.
The old man continued, “That apprentice is a student from the Logistics Departnt’s Rune Studies. During his research, he discovered a special rune structure. After preliminary verification, this structure is quite useful even for fourth-ring wizards.”
A slight commotion rose in the conference room.
Jie Ming understood.
A rune structure useful even for fourth-ring wizards…
It ant that this student’s research results had already surpassed the level of ordinary apprentices and reached a level that could truly influence formal wizards.
For wizard academies, such things were actually not rare.
After all, every academy gathered all the talented individuals from an entire plane cluster. With a large enough base, it was normal for the occasional monster to appear.
But for Noren Academy No. 147, this was truly the first ti.
After nearly a thousand years since its founding, it had finally produced a genuine prodigy.
“Excitent aside, the necessary procedures cannot be skipped,” the sixth-ring wizard’s voice turned serious. “Next, we need to conduct a thorough review of this student.”
Jie Ming nodded.
This was standard procedure.
The review was not to make things difficult for the student, but to ensure that this prodigy was a genuine wizard genius.
And not a spy sent by so other civilization, or an unlucky fellow whose soul had been replaced by so unknown external entity.
Back when he had created mithril, he had also undergone such a review.
“The review will cover several aspects,” the sixth-ring wizard began assigning tasks. “For the soul level, we need to examine whether the subject’s soul origin is pure and whether there are any signs of modification or replacent.”
A fifth-ring wizard proficient in soul sorcery nodded and accepted the task.
“For the ntal consciousness level, we need to examine the state of the subject’s spiritual sea to confirm there are no external ntal imprints.”
Another wizard accepted the task.
“Detection of abnormalities in thought fluctuations will be handled by several from the Illusion Departnt.”
“Comparison of circumstances from his hotown—send soone to verify in the plane he originated from.”
Tasks were assigned one after another.
Finally, the sixth-ring wizard looked toward Jie Ming.
“Lord Jie Ming, you will be responsible for analyzing the public recording data stored in the academy regarding this student. Confirm whether there is anything unusual in his daily behavior.”
Jie Ming nodded.
This task was very simple for him.
With the computational power provided by the Fate Subsystem, analyzing tens of thousands of recordings would not take much ti.
“Task assignnt is complete,” the sixth-ring wizard stood up. “Everyone, please act as quickly as possible. Once everything is confird to be in order, we will discuss the treatnt for this apprentice.”
Everyone stood up and left one after another.
Jie Ming also stood up, preparing to go back and retrieve the recording data.
Seraphina sohow appeared beside him and spoke in a lowered voice, “Has Dean Avery Knight replied yet?”
Jie Ming shook his head. “No, but I asked the instructors—there hasn’t been anything happening at the workshop recently. Since there’s nothing going on, we can just wait slowly for his reply.”
Seraphina nodded, said nothing more, and disappeared into the shadows of the corridor.
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