Chapter 379

The teleportation light dissipated in the magnificent hall, and Jie Ming's figure reappeared.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he clearly felt countless gazes focusing on him like invisible probes.

The meaning contained in these gazes was quite complex.

There was scrutiny, inquiry, disbelief, deep curiosity, and even a few traces of indescribable... regret?

The only thing missing was the congratulations or admiration due to a winner who had just won the final victory in a fierce melee.

Jie Ming knew this well, and his face remained calm.

He knew that the "means" he had used on the competition field earlier must have been seen clearly by these high-tier wizards in the hall with their sharp eyes.

Although everyone's gazes were different, out of wizard etiquette and respect for the Plane Nuolun wizard, no one rashly stepped forward to disturb Jie Ming.

Only Wei Aola.

Like a crab acting like a thief, she moved sideways silently, rubbing up to Jie Ming's side.

Then she touched him lightly with her elbow, lowered her voice, and asked in an unbelievable tone:

"Hey, Jie Ming... your laws... are they really related to 'Imaginary Element'?"

Jie Ming looked at Wei Aola's sneaky and inquisitive appearance, and then felt the wizards around who seemed to be talking to each other but were actually all pricking up their ears, and couldn't help but laugh.

He didn't deliberately lower his voice, but instead nodded generously and frankly admitted:

"Hmm, that's right."

He didn't feel this was a lie.

For this wizard universe, the energy form of "Spiritual Energy" indeed does not exist in their cognitive system.

Classifying it as a product of "Imaginary Element" or "Fictional Laws" is reasonable from their perspective.

Although everyone had guesses in their hearts through the light screen observation and the term "Imaginary Element" that Jie Ming had admitted himself.

But when he really confirmed it himself, there was inevitably a burst of suppressed low exclamations and discussions in the hall.

Wei Aola even widened her eyes and asked bluntly:

"What exactly were you thinking?! How could you choose this direction?!"

Jie Ming had long expected their reaction.

In the mainstream cognition of the wizarding world, choosing "Imaginary Element" or the related "Fictional Laws" as the core research direction is indeed a quite "non-mainstream," and even considered "irrational" behavior.

All of this stems from the contradictory and trap-filled characteristics of "Fictional Laws" themselves.

At the beginning, when Jie Ming decided to determine the core law of his wizard path as "Spiritual Energy," his primary consideration was not how to build the incense god path, but a more fundamental question—does this wizard universe, which takes materialism and rule exploration as its core, allow for promotion by relying on a law that "does not exist" in this universe?

For this, he spent a lot of time and energy querying relevant information in the vast knowledge base of the Plane Nuolun workshop.

Finally, he found information about "Fictional Laws."

The conclusion was simple: Yes.

Wizard civilization has a long history, and there are countless smart people and those who dare to be imaginative.

A long time ago, many top wizards thought about similar questions: so-called laws are essentially the summary of laws and the exploration of truth for certain objective things or axioms; they are just a kind of "knowledge" themselves.

So, if a wizard could "set" a thing themselves, and "set" a set of operating laws for it, and then study and master it like studying real laws, wouldn't it be theoretically possible to achieve near "omnipotence"?

This path is called Fictional Laws by wizards.

And "Imaginary Element" is a thing produced or related to this kind of "false," subjectively "set" law.

The two words "Imaginary Element" have already stated its essence—originating from imagination, not objective existence.

Theoretically, this path is feasible, and there have indeed been wizards who succeeded in history.

But in the end, the path of "Fictional Laws" was almost eliminated in the mainstream choices of wizard civilization.

There are many reasons.

First, although it is theoretically possible to complete "Fictional Laws," those who can truly do it are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Because to build a "Fictional Law" that can produce "Imaginary Element" and be recognized by the wizard system, the researcher must first set the law they want to set rigorously and self-consistently enough.

After all, except for the legendary Tier 9 existences, the wizard world is still quite "materialistic," and various objective laws are indestructible.

Wanting to fabricate a law system out of thin air that can make the basic rules of the endless chaotic void "nod in approval" is much more difficult than deeply studying an existing law.

For example, to study the "Fire Element Law," the researcher only needs to focus on the properties of the fire element itself, changes, interactions with other elements, etc.

But if you want to "set" a similar but brand-new "X Element Law," you not only need to understand the fire element, but also need to deeply understand other basic elements such as water, earth, and wind.

And even related axioms such as energy conservation and spatial structure, to ensure that your "setting" will not fundamentally conflict with these cornerstones, while also embodying enough "novelty."

Simply put, to study a normal law, perhaps you only need to comprehend and absorb a wisp of the relevant plane origin to successfully enter the door.

But to fabricate a law yourself, you need to absorb plane origins from multiple different fields, and the resource consumption and knowledge threshold rise exponentially.

Just this one requirement is enough to brush off 99% of the triers.

However, just this alone is not enough to stump those true peerless geniuses in wizard civilization.

After all, resources can be accumulated, and knowledge can be learned.

The point is the second problem: the setting of Fictional Laws cannot be "too" rigorous.

This sounds completely opposite to the first requirement.

But according to the information Jie Ming found, if it is set too rigorously and perfectly, and the logical closed loop is impeccable.

Then it is highly likely that this law is not completely "fictional," but a "real" law that indeed exists but has not yet been discovered and recorded by wizard civilization!

Behind it corresponds to some kind of matter, energy, or rule axiom that wizards have not yet discovered.

Ironically, in the era when "Imaginary Element" research was most prevalent, it became one of the periods when wizard civilization discovered various new elements and new laws the fastest.

Many perfect laws that geniuses racked their brains to "fabricate" were finally proven to be some kind of niche, obscure but real rules.

If this result is caused, it is undoubtedly a huge blow to those genius wizards who have spent massive resources and think highly of themselves.

After all, this is equivalent to declaring that all their "creation" and "setting" is just a "discovery" with good luck.

For them, who pursue the peak of knowledge and truth, this result of "making wedding clothes for others" is far more unacceptable than failure.

After brushing off another batch of people, the remaining extremely small number of lucky ones, or rather, the wise men who grasped that subtle balance, finally successfully "fabricated" their own laws and relied on this to promote.

Then, the third problem followed: the individual combat power of Fictional Laws is generally not strong.

According to statistical data, no matter at what level, wizards who control Fictional Laws usually only just reach the average line of that level in individual combat power.

This sounds okay?

But the problem is that wizards who can pass the first two cruel screenings and finally successfully control Fictional Laws are all geniuses among geniuses, monsters among monsters.

For them, "reaching the average line" is a failure in itself!

They should have far surpassed their peers.

There are many reasons why individual combat power is not strong.

For example, the laws fabricated by everyone are unique, there is no experience from predecessors to learn from, all paths need to be opened by oneself, and the trial-and-error cost is extremely high.

At the same time, because Fictional Laws must conform to some underlying axioms of the world to some extent, otherwise they cannot be recognized by the system, so they cannot achieve the omnipotent effect of "doing whatever one wants" and "subverting conventions" as initially imagined, and there are many restrictions.

Of course, Fictional Laws are not without merit.

Its biggest benefit is that it can produce "Imaginary Element."

This thing, which theoretically does not exist, can be created out of thin air by wizards who have mastered the corresponding Fictional Laws.

And according to the depth and angle of the creator's understanding of their own laws at that time, the produced Imaginary Element will have various peculiar attributes or effects that conventional elements are difficult to achieve.

Simply put, combat power may not be good, but it is very capable in terms of "producing special materials" and "making money."

The Imaginary Element they produce is often a rare catalyst or core material for some high-end alchemy or special wizarding tool manufacturing.

But, that's all.

For those geniuses who have the ability to master Fictional Laws, "making money" is really not a difficult thing; they have too many ways to obtain resources.

To exchange such a high threshold and cost for the positioning of a "high-end material supplier," in the eyes of most top wizards, is undoubtedly a choice with extremely low cost-effectiveness.

Precisely because of this, when Jie Ming admitted himself that his laws were related to "Imaginary Element," it caused so much surprise and confusion.

In everyone's view, with the potential and wisdom Jie Ming showed, choosing any existing law path with a bright future would have limitless potential, so why take this side path that seems difficult and "dim"?

But for Jie Ming, using the skin of "Fictional Laws" and "Imaginary Element" is perfect for whitewashing and rationalizing his true foundation—"Spiritual Energy."

At least, when abnormalities are detected in his Purgatory Sulfur plane in the future, it will not cause excessive panic and inquiry, but will only be considered some kind of special "Imaginary Element" environment.

Just as he was calculating in his heart, the Plane Nuolun wizard, who had been sitting in the main seat, stood up with a smile.

With his movement, the entire hall instantly quieted down, and all whispers stopped abruptly.

The Plane Nuolun wizard walked slowly to Jie Ming, looked him over carefully with those eyes that seemed to contain endless wisdom, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

"Well done, little guy." The Plane Nuolun wizard's voice was gentle and full of power, "Very thoughtful, and very potential. Since you won, then, this reward is yours."

Saying this, he reached out his hand and handed the "Death-Substituting Doll," which looked simple but represented a second life, into Jie Ming's hand.

Jie Ming took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and respectfully took it with both hands: "Thank you, my lord Nuolun!"

(End of chapter)