Chapter 463: Pre-War Meeting

After centuries of continuous development, the unique elemental hybrid lifeform known as the Black Giants had grown into a terrifyingly massive population on the Sulphur Hell Plane.

Their total population had long since reached the hundred billion that Gao Jie Ming had anticipated.

The enormous base population, combined with the "social attributes" and faint spirituality granted by the Incense God Path, had increased the number of "Black Giant Priest" mutation individuals from one in ten million to over a thousand.

Each Priest possessed a Level Six lifeform's starting point and exceptional wisdom, serving as the core force for managing the tribe, operating the God Path, and aiding research.

Yet the intensity and nature of war meant that more numbers were not always better.

Facing the impending Wizard Coordination War, which might unite the finest forces of the three major factions,

low-tier units faced dismal survival rates and could even become tactical liabilities.

Thus, when assembling his forces, Gao Jie Ming made a clear selection: only recruit Black Giant units with combat strength of Level Five or higher.

After leaving behind sufficient Black Giant Priests and a large number of Level Four Black Giants to maintain the basic operation, daily administration, and defense of the Sulphur Hell Plane's Incense God Path, Gao Jie Ming took with him the tribe's most elite war force.

First, eight hundred Black Giant Priests.

Each was equivalent to a Level Six spellcaster, proficient in group enhancement, battlefield control, energy coordination, and incantations.

One million Level Five Black Giant warriors.

These were elite soldiers who had undergone brutal selection and targeted training—powerful physiques, fierce combat instincts, the main force for frontline assaults and enemy attrition.

And the once-rare Level Six Black Giants had now grown to nearly ten thousand.

These were powerful individuals who had broken through to Level Six through consumption-based evolution and bloody battles; they were the core assault force of the army.

And standing at the apex of all Black Giants remained the two original leaders—Rushan and Yan Chui.

Hundreds, even thousands of years, combined with the consumption and evolution abilities granted by the Five Organs Worshiping Art, had pushed their power to the absolute limit of Level Six.

Yet the invisible abyss separating elemental beings from Level Seven remained as unyielding as ever.

As hybrid lifeforms forcibly fused from Lava Giants and Yeti traits, they seemed to have reached some inherent "bloodline" or "essence" ceiling.

Still, even as Level Six beings, their strength far surpassed all later generations.

Merely their terrifying height—exceeding two hundred meters—made other Level Six Black Giants, barely over a hundred meters tall, appear like children.

Vast energy surged within their black, liquid-metal bodies; even their unconscious energy fields subtly warped the surrounding space.

Gao Jie Ming sensed that these two leaders' energy reserves and life intensity had accumulated to the theoretical peak of Level Six.

Perhaps, only a sufficiently intense stimulus—or a battle to the death—could shatter that barrier and trigger a leap in their life tier, becoming Level Seven elemental beings.

"This war… may be your chance," Gao Jie Ming thought, watching Rushan and Yan Chui, who stood like two moving mountains.

Without hesitation, he communicated with his inner Dantian.

One million troops marched in perfect order, transforming into streams of black flow, swiftly absorbed into the Dantian, where they were arranged and stationed in the specially designated "Army Quarters."

After sending the last Black Giant Priest into the Dantian, Gao Jie Ming turned and gave brief instructions to the Remaining Black Giants and Priests, then stepped onto the fixed teleportation array leading to Plane Nuolun 147 Academy.

Light flashed; space shifted.

The familiar academy atmosphere washed over him, yet the tension and lethality in the air far surpassed anything before.

The square was sparsely populated, mostly low-tier apprentices or Level One and Two formal wizards, their gazes toward the Gao Gao Jie wizards filled with awe and dread.

Gao Jie Ming did not pause; following the highest-priority assembly command received via the Magic Net terminal, he headed straight for the academy's central conference center.

As he approached, the heavy alloy door sensed his presence and opened automatically; a clamorous, oppressive wave of sound surged into his ears.

The conference hall was packed to capacity.

This massive circular tiered chamber, capable of seating thousands, was now completely full.

The moment Gao Jie Ming stepped inside, a thousand pairs of eyes from every direction instantly fixed upon him.

Curiosity, scrutiny, awe, tension, anticipation—emotions mingled in those gazes.

For this coordinated war, Plane Nuolun Workshop leadership had assessed that wizards below Level Three could not provide effective combat power in such high-intensity confrontations and would instead become vulnerable targets and tactical burdens.

Therefore, only formal wizards of Level Three or higher were forcibly conscripted for this war.

Plane Nuolun 147 Academy was relatively new, its accumulated foundation not as deep as those of the established academies.

The total number of wizards meeting the Level Three or higher standard was merely over a thousand.

In essence, the entire academy's core and elite forces were now gathered here.

In the sunken center of the circular conference chamber was not flat ground, but a raised platform resembling a small podium.

Upon it sat over twenty chairs of varied styles, all occupied.

They were over twenty Level Six Gao Gao Jie wizards!

They were the true anchors and supreme combat power of Plane Nuolun 147 Academy; each radiated an aura as profound and unmoving as a deep lake or towering mountain.

Merely the unconscious interweaving of their spiritual forces made the air in the hall thick and heavy.

Sister Wei'ao was among them.

She sat near the edge, still in her usual languid posture, yet her slightly furrowed brows and the occasional sharp glint in her eyes revealed her inner unrest.

As a Level Five wizard, Gao Jie Ming had the right to sit in the front-row section.

His expression calm, he ignored the converging gazes and walked steadily down the tiered aisle.

Passing a middle row of seats, he recognized several familiar faces—David, Seraphina, and other former classmates from his cohort.

They too had advanced to Level Four and were included in this conscription.

Their gazes met.

David and the others looked at him with complex expressions—nostalgia, and astonishment at whether he had lost his mind.

For in just a few centuries, Gao Jie Ming had leapt from their equal to a Level Five being.

Gao Jie Ming said nothing, merely nodded slightly to them in greeting.

David and the others nodded back.

He continued downward to the front row.

"Here."

Wei'ao called out to Gao Jie Ming; following her gaze, he sat in the empty seat closest to her.

"You're here?" Wei'ao turned her head, voice lowered.

"Mm."

Gao Jie Ming replied in a low tone, his gaze sweeping over the twenty-plus Level Six wizards at the center, several of whose faces he had seen before in workshop internal settings or records.

"Are all present?"

"Almost. Just waiting for the Dean," Wei'ao said, her eyes fixed on the sealed door to one side of the hall, leading deeper into the facility.

Gao Jie Ming understood, said no more, and turned his gaze to the door as well.

Like the thousand wizards in the hall, they waited in a silence woven from tension, anticipation, and solemnity, awaiting the meeting's start.

(End of Chapter)