Chapter 231

High above, the biting gale was isolated by an invisible shield.

Jie Ming and David transformed into two streaks of light that were hard to capture, flying toward the next marked area where the target was suspected to have been active.

During this high-speed flight, David's eyes beneath his visor were tightly closed, and his surging mental power acted like the most precise probe, carefully examining the broken soul that had been forcibly detained within the head.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, his voice sounding somewhat dull through the armor: "Check complete."

"This guy was just a poor wretch." David concluded, "He wasn't any subordinate of the target, just someone who accidentally encountered that illegal wizard not long ago and was forcibly infected by the other party using an unknown power, which is why he turned into this ghostly state."

In those soul fragments, only memories twisted by endless hunger and pain remained, as well as the most primitive fear of the figure who had turned him into a monster.

Almost at the same time, Jie Ming also completed his analysis.

He simultaneously used "Analysis," "Alchemy," and the "Eye of Universality" to perform an all-around dissection of the twisted flesh.

In front of him, a light screen projected by the terminal was displaying the most microscopic structural map of the "wizard" body sample that Jie Ming had analyzed.

"I have results on my end too." Jie Ming's voice was calm and waveless, "Confirmed that the 'negative energy' used by this guy is essentially a negative transformation form of life force. The reason he turned into that neither-human-nor-ghost state is precisely because he was subjected to the continuous soaking and erosion of this energy."

Jie Ming pointed to an energy chain on the light screen that was constantly decaying and continued to speculate: "According to the model deduction, the other party's body should be constantly consuming its own life force in a daily state, which explains why he turned into that withered, ghostly state. Looking at it this way, he probably needs to constantly absorb the life force of others to barely maintain his existence."

Next, Jie Ming's tone changed, pointing out a most critical and eerie doubt.

"However, according to the energy traces I collected," he pointed to a shocking set of data on the light screen, "just now, when that 'wizard' was 'casting spells,' he should have wasted most of the life force he plundered—or more accurately,

The vast majority of the life force dissipated into thin air during the transformation process. In the end, only an extremely tiny portion of energy was successfully transformed."

"Otherwise, reversing from the total amount of energy traces remaining on this guy, he must have successfully absorbed the entire life force of at least a hundred ordinary people. With such massive energy, no matter how low the transformation efficiency is, the black fireball he released should never have been that weak."

After Jie Ming finished stating this intelligence, he lowered his head and fell into brief thought.

His brain searched through all the knowledge systems about energy application in his database at a speed thousands of times faster than an ordinary person. A moment later, he shook his head and asserted: "It can be confirmed that in the mainstream systems within the Nuolun Workshop, there is absolutely no energy application method of this series."

He couldn't help but have a trace of disdain at the corner of his mouth: "Mainly, this energy application method—the efficiency is simply too low. Low to the point of being outrageous; if anyone dared to fight this way, they would probably be laughed to death on the spot."

Jie Ming looked up and glanced at David, who was silent beside him.

David immediately understood what he meant.

His brows beneath the heavy armor were also tightly furrowed, and after thinking for a moment, he also shook his head and said in a very certain tone:

"I can also be certain that in the old supernatural system of the Aeloxia Plane, there was absolutely no such power either."

"Although they also had similar 'Necrotic Power' involving life and death, the essence of that energy is completely different from this energy."

With the information exchanged, the two looked at each other in the air, and both saw a trace of peculiar spirit in each other's eyes.

The other party displayed power that did not belong to the Nuolun Workshop or the original Aeloxia Plane system, coupled with the specialized enhancement of this power for life absorption. Synthesizing this intelligence, this was no longer a simple mission to hunt down a defector.

"If our deduction is correct, let's apply for the academy to send reinforcements." Jie Ming proposed.

"Agreed, I'm afraid we need to expand the search range."

Afterward, the two didn't say anything more, just silently accelerated their flight speed and continued to fly toward the next marked city.

Silence spread between the two, but Jie Ming's thoughts were somewhat chaotic.

He couldn't help but start recalling everything he had seen in that city before.

That child—Chuck, who was full of fantasies and yearning for "wizards," and those other children who treated "wizards" as bedtime stories.

Obviously, neither the Nuolun Academy nor the wizards governing the local area had deliberately hyped up their own presence, but they also hadn't deliberately covered up their existence.

But even so, only a mere hundred years had passed.

These descendants of the transformed survivors who had survived from the Aeloxia Plane had almost completely forgotten the real and cruel things about "wizards."

Diluting that history of blood and fire into vague, distant legends.

Jie Ming couldn't help but think of when he had just traveled to this world.

At that time, he also thought that there was no supernatural power in this world.

Thinking about it now, the lord who ruled that area at the time didn't seem to have deliberately covered up the existence of "wizards."

In the legends of the territory, one could still vaguely find some records about "mysterious guardians."

But, looking at the long lifespan of that lord as a Tier 2 wizard, what was the time that was almost eternal to mortals in his eyes?

The other party probably just invested in a relatively interesting research project, and hundreds of years passed.

Or, perhaps they just went to participate in a protracted plane war.

And when they left the territory to carry out these "daily activities."

The mortals in their territory, whose lives were only a few decades, gradually forgot that mysterious and powerful lord during the reproduction and replacement of generation after generation, and it was a perfectly normal thing to forget that there was really supernatural power in the world.

Memories fade, and awe is diluted by time.

In the end, reality becomes legend.

"Is this—the insurmountable difference in perspective between high-level life and low-level life?"

Jie Ming couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Suddenly, he had a deeper understanding of what Mentor Clark had said before.

Perhaps, the so-called "maturity" in Mentor Clark's mouth did not just refer to emotional indifference and rationality.

It should refer more to completely and thoroughly transforming one's "perspective" into that of a true high-level life—the perspective of a mature wizard!

No longer using the mortal concept of time to measure gains and losses,

No longer using mortal emotional bonds to bind oneself.

Acknowledging and accepting that there is already an insurmountable chasm like a natural moat between oneself and those short-lived creatures.

When he can truly think about problems and plan for the future in units of "hundreds of years" and "thousands of years."

Then the deaths of Amy and Victor will also become like a pet that a mortal accidentally raised to death when recalling childhood in his long life, leaving only faint memories mixed with regret.

Only then can he be considered a truly "mature" wizard.

Thinking of this, an indescribable complex emotion surged in Jie Ming's heart.

He knew that his path was still very long,

And the so-called "maturity" was just the first price that had to be paid on this cruel path.

Two years later.

The blue sky was like a wash, and the sea breeze blew with a salty and damp breath.

In a temporary stronghold near the sea, Jie Ming and David had just finished exchanging the latest intelligence with another wizard squad that had come to support them.

"The target's last suspicious energy fluctuation appeared in the 'Storm' sea area. Thank you for your hard work." The captain of the opposing squad, a Tier 2 wizard shrouded in lightning, said solemnly. "It's all in a day's work." David's signature dull voice sounded.

Jie Ming just nodded calmly, counting as a greeting.

Afterward, the two didn't say anything more, turned around, and transformed into two streaks of pitch-black light, galloping toward the direction of the turbulent ocean.

As early as two years ago, after they tracked down that first pseudo-wizard, they immediately sent back all the news they had probed to the academy.

Nuolun Academy attached great importance to this, immediately dispatched a large number of professional reconnaissance personnel, and mobilized wizard lords in various regions of the Aeloxia Plane to assist in carpet-style screening of their respective territories.

But even with such massive power gathered, the wizards still couldn't directly catch the tail of that real illegal wizard. Every time they closed the net, they could only catch one or two "pseudo-wizards" like the previous ones who had become neither human nor ghost after being infected.

Of course, with the passage of time and the gradual improvement of the entire plane's reconnaissance network system, the areas where illegal wizards could be active also became increasingly restricted.

He was like a cunning fox being constantly driven away, with less and less room for activity.

It sounded like the wizards' luck wasn't very good, always being one move behind.

However, Jie Ming and David had long expected all of this.

Because as early as two years ago, after they cracked the energy sample of the first pseudo-wizard, they had already discovered it.

The true function of these infected "pseudo-wizards" was actually to act as mobile "base stations," tools to help the illegal wizard hiding behind the scenes collect life force.