Chapter 412: The Fourth Cycle

The clarity of the research direction acted like a potent catalyst injected into the entire Wizard Legion.

To obtain more Scythe-skull specimens—especially live ones at different developmental stages—the Wizards' advance became unprecedentedly aggressive.

Elite squads continuously penetrated deep into Scythe-skull territory, deliberately targeting their breeding facilities and metamorphosis nests.

However, Gao Jie Ming's research group was not the only unit operating at full capacity.

In fact, the entire logistics and R&D system was running at full speed, with each research group assigned different tasks.

While Gao Jie Ming's team had achieved localized breakthroughs, other research groups gradually completed their respective studies over time.

For instance, the "Crystalline Disruption Ray," specifically designed to analyze the shell composition of Scythe-skulls, was developed—a spell capable of disrupting their shell's energy conduction, rendering it as brittle as porcelain.

Additionally, the "Frequency Contamination Field," engineered to exploit Scythe-skulls' weak information communication systems, began deployment on the front lines, effectively disrupting their command network.

Targeted technologies emerged like mushrooms after rain: intensified light-blinding runes optimized for their compound eyes, and ecological blockers exploiting their larvae's dependence on specific fungal mats.

With these combat-oriented tools aiding them, the Wizards' rate of advance increased once more.

Along with this came a growing flood of intelligence.

Battlefield situation and terrain scans, models and data from newly developed sorcery, and a constant stream of macro-level intelligence on the plane's energy flows, geological structures, and anomalous law fluctuations.

It could be said that the number of recording crystals stored in Gao Jie Ming's dantian increased visibly every day.

The technological superiority was beginning to show its effect.

The Scythe-skulls' defensive lines were retreating step by step.

The joint spell arrays that had once plagued the Wizards now frequently failed under targeted interference; the elusive subterranean teleportation guard insects had their energy nodes preemptively marked and destroyed.

Even their attempted large-scale counterattacks devolved into chaotic charges due to communication disruption, shattered under the Wizards' well-prepared crossfire into seas of blood.

Less than two months after the war began, the Scythe-skulls had lost over half their controlled territory, and their civilization as a whole showed signs of collapse.

Rare scenes had already begun appearing on the battlefield: small Scythe-skull units abandoning equipment and fleeing in disarray; some breeding facilities even deliberately abandoned, leaving behind vast quantities of unevacuated larvae and resources.

The scales of victory seemed to have tipped completely.

On this day, Gao Jie Ming had just stored a batch of latest research findings—partial decryption reports on the "pheromone coding patterns" of Scythe-skull high-tier individuals—onto the corresponding shelf in his dantian.

He straightened up, rubbing his temples, swollen from prolonged information processing.

At that moment.

An indescribable sensation gripped him.

Not sound, not vibration, but a more fundamental "change"—as if the foundational hue of the entire world had been gently shifted.

The strings of the plane's laws were plucked by an invisible hand, emitting a hum imperceptible to mortals yet causing the souls of the transcendent to tremble.

"This is—" Gao Jie Ming's pupils contracted sharply.

Before he could react, a strange pulling sensation surged from all directions.

Matter, space, consciousness—all were forcibly dragged backward, reversed.

The next cycle of time began.

Just after bursting through the spatial rift, Gao Jie Ming felt a sudden dizziness, as if a blunt object had struck the back of his skull.

But he immediately stabilized himself—his Soul Transformation-level nascent soul and fourth-rank Wizard's spiritual power were no mere decoration; he regained clarity almost instantly.

"Captain?" came a question from behind.

"I'm fine," Gao Jie Ming replied instinctively, then froze.

Because the scene felt eerily familiar—as if he had seen it before.

He instinctively looked up, surveying the surroundings: beyond the dark spatial rift, their two thousand men had appeared high above the battlefield's rear.

Wait—two thousand men?!

As the First Squad, his unit had only one thousand members!

Gao Jie Ming's pupils shrank sharply as he recalled the arrangement by the Starforging Altrius: thirty squads of thirty thousand Wizards, with one new squad deployed per cycle.

Thus, the appearance of these two thousand "reinforcements" meant only one thing—

This was the fourth cycle.

At this moment, the rear guard units of the Wizard army had already turned their attention toward them.

"Reinforcements?" A sixth-rank Wizard flew out from the formation, his voice brimming with suspicion, "At this time?"

Gao Jie Ming suppressed the overwhelming sense of déjà vu and pulled out his terminal.

A beam projected into the air: Altrius's command document and the blazing eighth-rank Wizard spiritual imprint hovered there, instantly dispelling all doubt.

"Verification passed." The sixth-rank Wizard saluted and stepped aside.

During the brief wait for Commander Frost to arrive, Gao Jie Ming, realizing he had undergone multiple cycles, instinctively checked his own condition.

Everything else was unremarkable, but when his spiritual power sank into his dantian, he saw three metal plates lying quietly on the ground: 1, 2, 3.

Behind the plates lay mountains of recording crystals.

The newest batch still retained residual warmth from the energy of the last cycle's final data storage.

His gaze swept over the handwritten reminders he had left, then picked up the recording crystal specially marked beneath one of the metal plates.

Immediately, the events of the previous cycle replayed rapidly in his consciousness like a tidal wave.

By the time Frost's silver-gray robe appeared flying from the command platform, Gao Jie Ming was fully alert.

He stepped forward, before the other could speak, under the slightly startled gazes of surrounding Wizards, and declared with decisive tone: "Commander Frost, I have critical intelligence to report!"

Frost's gaze, sharp as a hawk's, fixed on Gao Jie Ming's face for a brief moment.

Without any further questions or doubts, the seventh-rank commander turned sharply: "Then come with me. Everyone else, proceed to your assigned positions per the command network."

On the way to the command center, Gao Jie Ming had already integrated all the information from that special recording crystal into his soul.

When the two entered the command post, sealed by layers of protective devices, Gao Jie Ming met the commander's scrutinizing gaze and said nothing—instead, he pulled out a recording crystal: "Sir, this is the message left for you by your counterpart from the previous cycle."

Hearing this, Frost's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the crystal Gao Jie Ming offered: "Interesting—"

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