Chapter 191: Foundation Establishment Mid-Stage

When Gao Jie Ming returned to the steel camp standing on the scorched earth of the boundary line with Wei Wei Aola and the subsequent support wizard squad, a feeling of being separated by a lifetime arose spontaneously.

The air no longer carried the sulfur smell of magma and the bloody smell of battle, but the coldness of metal, the stable humming of rune energy, and a sense of orderly discipline.

He felt as if he had returned from a barbaric and bloody primitive hunt to a strictly disciplined civilized fortress.

The first thing Gao Jie Ming did after returning to the camp was to rest and take stock.

Gao Jie Ming first went to the logistics exchange office of the legion to process all the materials he had obtained along the way.

Actually, although the previous battle was thrilling, Gao Jie Ming didn't have much harvest; more of it was the harvest from the small stronghold before.

Tier 2 lava giant energy cores, energy crystals containing fire elemental power, strange plant samples that could survive in high temperatures...

These rare materials, which looked good in value to the outside world, were valued here and quickly exchanged for military merit points representing military merit and resources.

Of course, that "Tier 2 Hatchery Pool," which was enough to arouse the covetousness of any force, was deeply hidden in the deepest part of his space expansion bag, without revealing a trace.

Afterward, he went to the communication department to re-apply for a new magic network terminal.

The new terminal was in hand, and the cool touch came; with the injection of his spiritual power, a familiar feeling connected him to the huge regional network of the entire wizard camp again.

In his field of vision, modules such as task lists, material exchange, and intelligence exchange appeared again, giving Gao Jie Ming the illusion of returning to civilized society.

Finally, Gao Jie Ming returned to his simple and fully functional dormitory.

He sat cross-legged, his mind sinking into his dantian.

The previous fierce battle, especially the curse inexplicably released by the Tier 3 lava giant, caused his "Xuan Gang Hong Chen Barrier" to consume quite a bit of stored Gang Sha while resisting the curse's backlash and subsequent mental impact.

He closed his eyes and began to slowly guide the various evil energies newly collected during this expedition, converting them bit by bit into pure Gang Sha to replenish the loss of the "Xuan Gang Hong Chen Barrier."

Because of the lack of Hong Chen Qi, Gao Jie Ming could only replenish the Xuan Gang Hong Chen Barrier with Gang Sha.

Fortunately, after such a long war, the quality of the Gang Sha in Gao Jie Ming's hands was quite good, not only capable of replenishing the Xuan Gang Hong Chen Barrier but also capable of additionally enhancing its power.

"It's a pity that the lack of Hong Chen Qi has significantly reduced the impact on high-tier creatures. However, with so much Gang Sha, it's enough to make Tier 3 and Tier 4 living beings stumble."

Hong Chen Qi and Gang Sha have their own advantages and disadvantages; the characteristics of Hong Chen Qi determine that this thing has quite strong lethality even to high-tier living beings.

And the same amount of Gang Sha has higher lethality to low-tier living beings.

But for Gao Jie Ming at the current stage, having enough Gang Sha is enough.

After completely dealing with these trivial matters, Gao Jie Ming suddenly felt a trace of abnormality.

He withdrew his attention from the spiritual sea and turned to look inside his dantian.

"Hmm? Didn't expect that I reached this level without knowing it?"

He clearly felt that the true essence in his dantian gas sea had unknowingly reached an unprecedented peak.

The vortex gathered by liquid true essence was rotating stably and powerfully at this moment, and every rotation emitted a feeling of fullness that was about to break through the barrier.

His Qi Refining cultivation had actually met all the conditions for breaking through from the Foundation Establishment early stage to the middle stage!

Gao Jie Ming couldn't help but feel a ripple in his heart.

Since his Foundation Establishment stage, it had been less than ten years, and he had already reached the threshold of breakthrough again.

"This kind of cultivation speed, if placed in the cultivation world, should definitely be considered a genius, right?" Gao Jie Ming thought happily.

One must know that ordinary cultivators usually need decades of hard work to go from the early stage of Foundation Establishment to the middle stage, and those with slightly poorer aptitude might even consume a hundred years.

"It seems that the cultivation environment of the wizard world, as well as this kind of high-intensity battle, has a much greater promotion effect on Qi Refining cultivation than I imagined." Gao Jie Ming analyzed silently in his heart.

Although the rich elements of the wizard world are different from the spiritual energy of the cultivation world, after the conversion of the cultivation method in his body, they can still be absorbed and utilized.

And the life-and-death battles again and again are the best tempering for the state of mind and the physical body.

With this discovery, Gao Jie Ming also checked his wizard level progress by the way.

He sank his consciousness into the spiritual sea and observed the "Truth Ring" that represented the essence of a Tier 1 wizard.

Gao Jie Ming was surprised to find that the complex ring composed of countless runes had actually been filled by his massive spiritual power by nearly half!

Its cultivation speed was even faster than his Qi Refining cultivation!

"The promotion from Tier 1 wizard to Tier 2 wizard is indeed relatively simple." Gao Jie Ming understood in his heart.

"Promoting from a Tier 1 wizard to a Tier 2 wizard is indeed relatively simple," Gao Jie Ming understood in his heart.

As long as he waited until he had completely filled the entire "Ring of Truth" with spiritual power, then used his vast knowledge reserves and computational power to perform a fundamental transformation and expansion of the structure of the "Ring of Truth" itself, and finally deeply activated his own soul and body, letting the three perfectly integrate, he could naturally promote to a Tier 2 wizard.

This could also be considered one of the biggest differences between the two series of paths: wizards and Qi Refiners.

Within each major realm of a cultivator, there are usually clear small realm divisions such as early, middle, and late stages, and every breakthrough is accompanied by a leap in the quantity of true essence and the growth of spiritual sense.

However, in the wizard system, after leaving the Apprentice Stage, there are basically no small realm divisions between formal wizard levels like Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.

After all, the most important core factor influencing a wizard's strength is the amount and depth of knowledge, not merely the strength of spiritual power.

Pure accumulation of spiritual power cannot bring a wizard too strong a combat capability.

A wizard with powerful spiritual power but poor knowledge will often be defeated miserably when facing a wizard with slightly weaker spiritual power but who has mastered a massive amount of profound wizardry models.

"However..." Gao Jie Ming thought calmly, "At the current stage, promoting from the early Foundation Establishment Stage to the middle stage doesn't actually bring a very large increase to my combat capability."

His main combat means still relied on those powerful talisman wizarding tools.

Although the power of the middle Foundation Establishment Stage could make his true essence stronger and his body tougher, it would not bring a crushing qualitative change.

"But it counts as an improvement, at least." Gao Jie Ming quickly made up his mind, "Adding another layer of solid protection for myself before heading to the crisis-ridden 'Frost-Dark Realm' is never wrong."

"Most importantly, the effect of the internal circulation method itself is also closely related to Qi Refining cultivation; entering the middle Foundation Establishment Stage should make my internal space quite a bit larger."

After making up his mind, Gao Jie Ming immediately submitted an application to the camp's management office through the new magic network terminal—he needed a sufficiently safe, enclosed laboratory to conduct an "important personal experiment."

After paying sufficient military merit, his application was quickly approved.

A metal laboratory located in the deepest part of the camp's underground opened its doors to him.

This place was isolated from the world; the walls were cast from alloy several meters thick, engraved with defensive runes capable of withstanding Tier 4 wizardry impacts, and energy was supplied by an independent earth vein core, ensuring it would absolutely not be disturbed by anything from the outside.

Gao Jie Ming walked into the laboratory, and as the thick metal door slowly closed, the whole world seemed to quiet down.

But he still did not start immediately; instead, he cautiously took out dozens of formation disks from his spatial expansion bag and personally laid down layer after layer of sealing arrays inside the laboratory.

These arrays combined the array concepts of cultivation with the rune technology of wizards; they could not only isolate energy fluctuations but also confuse the heavenly secrets, preventing any form of prying.

After finishing all these preparations, he finally sat cross-legged in the center of the laboratory, eyes closed, mind unified, and officially began to impact the middle Foundation Establishment Stage.

To Gao Jie Ming's surprise, this promotion had no danger or twists and turns at all; it was completely a matter of course.

The cultivation method within his body operated on its own, and the liquid true essence that had long accumulated to the limit in his dantian's Qi sea, under the guidance of his mind, began to rotate at an unprecedented high speed.

At the center of the Qi cyclone, a deep vortex gradually formed, crazily pulling and compressing the surrounding true essence.

Time seemed to become slow at this moment.

Gao Jie Ming could clearly "hear" the sound coming from within his body, like a rushing river; it was the sound of true essence flowing at high speed through his meridians.

Every cell in his limbs and bones let out a joyful groan under the scouring of this pure true essence.

Not knowing how much time had passed, when the true essence vortex in his dantian was compressed to the limit, a slight "pop" sound that seemed to come from the depths of his soul rang out!

—The barrier was broken!

A stream of true essence, far purer and more condensed than before, fed back from the center of the vortex and quickly filled his entire dantian Qi sea.

The original liquid true essence now became more viscous, almost having a trend toward transforming into a solid state, and the energy density contained within it had also increased by more than several fold!

His meridians were widened and reinforced, and the perception range of his spiritual power expanded once again, becoming more acute and clear.

Gao Jie Ming slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of light vanished from his pupils.

He slowly stood up, feeling the brand-new power surging within his body.

He could feel that his five senses, strength, speed, and even the speed of his thinking had all significantly improved.

Although it was not a qualitative change, this all-around strengthening was enough to give him a greater advantage when facing enemies of the same level.

"Middle Foundation Establishment Stage... done."

After consolidating his cultivation base and adapting to his new power, Gao Jie Ming did not delay any longer.

He removed the arrays, left the laboratory, and walked straight toward another important area of the camp—the intelligence database.

The promotion was complete; the next goal was that cold land of death.

He sat before an independent query terminal, called up all his permissions, and began to systematically collect all information regarding the "Frost-Dark Realm" and the "Snow Monsters."

A huge virtual light screen unfolded before him, and massive amounts of data flowed down like a waterfall.

The geographical environment, climate characteristics, maps of explored areas, and energy element distribution of the Frost-Dark Realm...

Detailed reports on the Snow Monster species: their social structure, reproductive methods, combat habits, and known weaknesses...

Various pieces of intelligence were continuously collected by Gao Jie Ming.

(End of chapter)