Chapter 462: War Readiness

In the training room, time seemed frozen in the clash of fist against fist, bone against bone.

The final temporal afterimage's chest collapsed completely beneath Gao Jie Ming's punch, infused with the full force of his body.

The elemental energy composing its body surged into violent chaos, then silently dispersed like a punctured bubble, dissolving into specks of flowing light absorbed by the training ground's energy filtration system.

"Huh… huh…"

Gao Jie Ming held his punching stance, breathing heavily; sweat mixed with a faint mist of blood slid down his bronze-toned skin.

He could clearly feel his blood surging like boiling magma within him.

An indescribable surge of power filled every limb and bone, followed by an instinctive urge to destroy and vent, triggered by the sudden explosion of strength.

"Ha…" He drew a deep breath, activating the calming method from the Qi Refining Scripture, suppressing the boiling blood, his gaze regaining clarity.

Leaving the training ground, he washed away his fatigue and bloodstains, then stepped as usual into the pre-prepared medicinal bath tub.

Warm medicinal fluid enveloped him, nourishing his overtaxed, slightly damaged cells and solidifying his newly broken limits.

A black giant priest entered carrying a detection device; Gao Jie Ming merely waved his hand, signaling no need to report specific data.

Because there was no time left.

Only a fleeting moment remained before the coordination war that would decide the fate of Plane Nuolun Workshop.

All necessary preparations had reached their final stages; his combat power had nearly hit its short-term ceiling.

During this final phase of war readiness, Gao Jie Ming weighed his options repeatedly, concentrating his limited energy and resources on just two core priorities.

First, continuously "ingesting" the plane's primordial essence containing concepts such as "Abyss," "Consumption," "End," and "Void."

The power of the 【Guixu Armor】 depended fundamentally on his depth of understanding of the "Guixu Intention."

The deeper the intention, the stronger the essence of its invisible force field, and the higher its upper limit for energy absorption and transformation.

The "elemental output multiplier" boost from wizard knowledge was calculated multiplicatively upon this "base value."

Even a slight increase in the base would, after magnification by tens of thousands of times, yield an extraordinarily significant improvement in final defense.

Other spell modifications offered no qualitative breakthroughs in the short term; only the "base" of the Guixu Armor could be forcibly advanced through this almost profligate method of "knowledge gorging," and even minor progress would rapidly enhance combat power.

Second, he pushed his physical strength to its absolute limit, hovering at the critical threshold where his essence, qi, and spirit were about to become unbalanced.

Whenever his spiritual power and spiritual energy barely caught up slightly through resource investment and natural cultivation, Gao Jie Ming immediately plunged into another round of even more insane time-afterimage body training, forcing his physical power another step higher.

He knew well that on the ever-changing, treacherous battlefield of wizards, an absurdly powerful physique and the "adaptive evolution" granted by the 【Body Strengthening Scripture】 were his most reliable assets for survival and counterattack.

A powerful body meant higher tolerance for error, natural resistance to physical and energy damage, and retained combat capability even under extreme conditions.

To this end, he also poured vast resources into enhancing his spiritual power and spiritual energy.

He purchased rare celestial treasures and special environment access rights to accelerate spiritual refinement, ensuring he could barely keep pace with his body's explosive growth.

The cost: despite having three steady income streams—"Self-Stabilizing Field Regulation Protocol," "Liquid Adamantite," and "Imaginary Element Sales"—his vast reserve of low-grade military merits was being consumed at an astonishing rate.

Vast quantities of plane primordial essence, mountains of materials, and rare resources for spiritual enhancement—each was a gold-sucking beast.

Now, soaking in the medicinal bath, Gao Jie Ming casually opened his magic net terminal, gazing at the mere thousands of low-grade military merits remaining in his personal account, and shook his head helplessly.

"It's really… spending money like water." He murmured to himself.

But every bit was worth it.

Every military merit had been genuinely converted into a weight on his war-preparation scale.

Low-grade military merits were exhausted; Gao Jie Ming's gaze shifted to the still-substantial one hundred thousand plus high-grade military merits in his account.

He opened the exclusive high-grade military merits exchange interface, browsing strategic resources, forbidden knowledge, and one-time top-tier items normally accessible only to high-rank wizards.

A dazzling list appeared: artifacts containing rule fragments, transmission crystals holding forbidden techniques, talismans capable of briefly resisting level-seven or even level-eight entities, super-technology artifacts from unknown civilizations, even portable miniature rule-interference devices…

Gao Jie Ming examined them carefully, but his brow gradually furrowed.

Many fine items, but at his current combat level, only a few could serve as true trump cards—and their prices were steep.

Either they didn't fully align with his existing system, requiring extensive time to use or study,

Or their prices were exorbitant—often requiring hundreds of thousands of high-grade military merits—leaving him able to afford only one or two items at most, with poor cost-effectiveness.

"One hundred thousand high-grade military merits… sounds like a lot, but at this level, even that barely suffices to acquire something capable of decisive enhancement or qualitative change." Gao Jie Ming assessed his needs.

He didn't need something that merely added polish—he needed something that could break stalemates at critical moments or greatly enhance his tactical flexibility.

His gaze swept the list repeatedly, finally settling on one item:

【Forbidden Magic Disc · Star Ring Tribunal Standard (Level-7 Standard Model)】

Exchange Cost: 200,000 high-grade military merits

Description: A one-time strategic interference device manufactured by a subsidiary workshop of the Star Ring Tribunal. Upon activation, it forcibly constructs a ten-minute "Absolute Magic Suppression Field" within a designated area.

Within the field, all non-physical energy flows, rule manifestations, wizard model constructions, and spiritual connections—except for pre-marked specific energy signatures—are severely suppressed and interfered with, equivalent to level-seven rule suppression.

Effectiveness plummets drastically against level-eight or higher entities with stabilized rules.

Note: Standard strategic asset. Use requires prior registration. Choose timing and environment with caution.

"Forbidden Magic Disc…" Gao Jie Ming's gaze sharpened.

The device's effect was simple and brutal: it created a temporary "silence" zone.

Low-grade military merits could buy similar magic-suppressing devices, but their efficacy was worlds apart.

This "Level-7 Standard Model" meant it could impose powerful restrictions on nearly all level-seven wizards.

More importantly, according to its description, with proper preparation, it could even achieve one-sided magic suppression.

In chaotic battle, suddenly stripping an opponent of their most relied-upon supernatural power—even for ten minutes—could turn the tide.

Whether used for breakout, decapitation, or supporting special unit operations, its effectiveness was exceptional.

Of course, the enemy likely possessed similar devices, so one-sided suppression was essentially out of the question.

Yet even so, for Gao Jie Ming—whose physical strength far surpassed peers and who retained considerable combat capability even in energy-depleted environments—this item's compatibility remained exceptionally high.

The price of 200,000 high-grade military merits was steep, but still within acceptable limits.

"This is it." Gao Jie Ming made no further hesitation; his finger tapped lightly, confirming the exchange.

The high-grade military merits exchange process was extremely efficient; almost instantly after confirmation, his magic net terminal received a notification that the item had been delivered via encrypted spatial channel to the designated pickup point.

He immediately commanded, via spiritual link, a black giant priest to retrieve the item from the laboratory's dedicated teleportation reception zone.

Soon, a metallic disc was placed before Gao Jie Ming.

The entire Forbidden Magic Disc was about the size of a palm, half a finger thick, entirely dark silver, its surface mirror-smooth, with fine engravings of star rings and scales along its edge.

The disc felt slightly heavy in his hand, cold to the touch.

Aside from its extraordinary material and the emblem, it appeared utterly ordinary, revealing no trace of energy fluctuation.

But Gao Jie Ming sensed an extremely stable and powerful sealing force contained within.

To activate it, he needed only to input a specific "password" via spiritual energy.

He inspected it twice thoroughly, confirmed its integrity, then carefully stored it in the most secure location within his inner dantian.

With this done, the medicinal effects of the bath were fully absorbed.

Gao Jie Ming rose from the tub; residual water droplets on his skin instantly restructured under alchemical luminescence, forming a simple, fitted dark gray wizard robe that automatically settled into place.

"Time… is nearly here."

He sighed softly, his expression calm, yet heavy with the stillness before the storm.

Leaving the bathing area, he walked directly to the nearly completed "ammunition" warehouse.

Millions of dark gold metal plates, classified and sealed in specially designed energy-storage crates, were stacked neatly into towering metal hills, nearly filling half the warehouse.

Each metal plate represented one round of wizard-knowledge-enhanced 【Flame Annihilation Divine Light】.

Gao Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction; with a thought, the entrance to his inner dantian opened silently, generating immense suction.

Crates of metal plates rose as if lifted by invisible hands, flowing like water into the dantian, stored securely in the designated "ammunition reserve zone."

In mere moments, the warehouse stood empty.

Finally, Gao Jie Ming turned his gaze to the black giant priest leader who had been waiting patiently nearby.

"Issue orders."

Gao Jie Ming's voice was quiet, yet clear and resonant throughout the warehouse, carrying undeniable resolve.

"Summon all combat units above level five to Level One War Readiness."

"Destination: Perimeter of the Border Point, Temporary Assembly Point Seven."

"We… march."

The instant the order was given, an invisible aura of grim slaughter spread silently from Gao Jie Ming.

Beneath the crimson sky of the Hell Sulfur Plane, countless powerful auras responded from across the plane, converging toward the designated location.

(End of Chapter)