Chapter 506

Consciousness slowly surfaced from the darkness.

The first thing he perceived was a sense of comfort that permeated his soul.

The feeling was like soaking in a spring with just the right temperature and vitality; soft and continuous power was seeping in from all directions, smoothing out the hideous cracks and burning pain deep within his consciousness.

Jie Ming opened his eyes.

Within his line of sight was an arched dome with a cold, metallic luster.

Turning his head to look, he was lying flat on a wide metal platform, the surface of which was engraved with extremely complex and precise composite magic arrays.

At this moment, these arrays were running steadily, emitting a soft, milky-white light.

The light flowed as if it had a life of its own, converging into streams of warm energy that continuously injected into his shattered soul.

Jie Ming sensed it slightly; the state of his soul deficiency had not changed, and the missing sixty percent remained empty.

But the remaining soul, which had been on the verge of complete shattering under the severe trauma and was only held together by his natal magic treasure, was now being carefully "stitched" and "reinforced" by a gentle yet resilient power.

The cracks still existed, but there was no longer any danger of disintegration; instead, they showed a slow trend toward healing.

This meant that even if he left this healing array now, he could gradually recover by relying on his own power; it was merely a matter of time.

It could probably be considered a change from near-death to severe injury.

"Judging by my biological clock... has five days passed?" Jie Ming calculated the time silently, feeling slightly relieved.

It seemed the Norn Workshop's healing technology was quite reliable.

"Main subject's vital signs have recovered to stability, soul fluctuations are trending toward order, consciousness activity has reached the standard, other personnel have been notified. Wizard Jie Ming, how do you feel?"

A synthetic metal voice without emotional fluctuation sounded in his ear.

Jie Ming turned his head and saw a humanoid construct, about the size of a person, with a smooth, silver body, standing beside the platform.

Its smooth face had no features, only a slightly glowing blue crystal array, which was scanning him.

"A Caretaker-series construct?" Jie Ming tried to move his fingers; his joints felt slightly stiff, but there was no major issue. "I feel... much better. Thank you."

"Duty bound. I am performing a deep soul scan and physical state assessment for you, please remain relaxed." The silver construct extended its slender metal fingers, and several tiny detection beams shot from its fingertips, enveloping Jie Ming's entire body.

Just at this moment...

Bang!

The thick metal door of the treatment room was pushed open by brute force, hitting the inner wall and making a dull, loud noise.

A silver-gray figure rushed in with the momentum of wind and thunder, her silver-gray eyes instantly locking onto Jie Ming on the metal platform.

It was Wei Aola.

She casually pushed aside the construct that was emitting a warning and leaned her face toward Jie Ming's bed.

The elegance and composure usually on her face had disappeared, replaced by a mixture of astonishment and undisguised playfulness.

That look was as if she had discovered a strange material she had never seen before.

Immediately after, another figure walked in unhurriedly.

A simple dark gray wizard robe, an indifferent expression, and eyes as calm as an ancient well—it was Mentor Dean.

His gaze also fell on Jie Ming, but compared to Wei Aola's "fervor," his gaze was calmer.

Jie Ming felt a bit creeped out by the two of them, especially Wei Aola's gaze, which seemed to want to take him apart for study. "Senior sister Wei Aola, Mentor Dean... what is this?"

Wei Aola didn't answer immediately but walked slowly around the metal platform, her gaze sweeping over every part of Jie Ming's body like a knife.

Finally, she stopped near his head, bent down, and stared into Jie Ming's eyes at close range with her silver-gray pupils, exclaiming with exaggerated tone:

"Junior brother, oh junior brother... you really gave us a big 'surprise'." She extended a finger painted with dark red nail polish and tapped Jie Ming's forehead. "Soul deficiency exceeding sixty percent, the remaining part on the verge of complete disintegration, and multiple deep wounds on your physical body... With injuries like these, let alone a Level 5, even many Level 6 Wizards who aren't skilled in the soul domain would have died long ago."

She straightened up, crossed her arms, and the playfulness on her face grew stronger: "But you actually survived, and in that state, you counter-killed a group of pursuers, and even in the end... well, we'll talk about what happened later. So, my dear junior brother, can I discuss something with you?"

An ominous premonition rose in Jie Ming's heart: "... What is it?"

"Look," Wei Aola smiled like a fox that had discovered honey, "your trait of 'clearly should be dead but isn't' is simply too valuable for research! The principles of soul resilience, life maintenance mechanisms, and even some unknown resistance laws involved behind this... are simply keys to deeper soul mysteries! So..."

She leaned closer, her voice full of temptation: "How about sacrificing yourself a little for the progress of knowledge? Don't worry, I won't kill you, I promise... probably."

She blinked: "At most, I'll just cut off a small piece of soul tissue; we can collaborate on the research, and if there are results, you'll be the first author..."

"Collaborate on research my foot, I'm the one being researched, right?!"

Jie Ming's hair stood on end, and without thinking, he flatly refused: "Impossible! Senior sister, don't even think about it!"

He subconsciously looked at his mentor, hoping that Dean, who was always strict but fair, would say something.

However, when he saw Mentor Dean's expression, his heart suddenly turned cold.

On Dean's eternally indifferent face, there was actually a trace of interest at this moment?

He tilted his head slightly, his brows furrowed imperceptibly, as if he were seriously considering the feasibility of Wei Aola's proposal.

His gaze wandered over Jie Ming, as if evaluating where it would be most appropriate to make the cut.

"Men-Mentor?!" Jie Ming's voice even changed pitch.

It was also at this moment that Jie Ming suddenly realized something was wrong with the environment.

This metal platform beneath him...

The cold touch, the groove design that restrained his body, the mechanical arms around him that looked like they were for fixation and precision operation, the adjustable high-energy irradiation lamp overhead...

This was not a high-end treatment bed at all!

This was clearly a high-end dissection table and soul operating table in a laboratory!

"Holy crap!"

Jie Ming was so scared that his soul almost literally flew away; he felt his soul, which had just been stitched up, tremble.

Survival instinct instantly overwhelmed everything; the power in his body erupted in response, he exerted force from his waist, and his whole body sprang up from the metal platform like a spring, leaping several meters back, leaning against the wall, and looking at the two people in front of him with full vigilance.

"Pfft... Hahaha!" Wei Aola was stunned for a moment, then laughed without any image, laughing until she was doubled over, tears almost coming out. "Junior brother, your reaction... Hahahaha! Too interesting!"

Even Mentor Dean, who was usually unperturbed, had the corners of his mouth hook up in a rare, extremely subtle arc.

The "interest" in his eyes faded rapidly, returning to his usual indifference, though a trace of imperceptible laughter seemed to flash deep in his eyes.

Jie Ming looked at Wei Aola, who was clutching her stomach in laughter, and then at his mentor, whose mouth was slightly raised. He was stunned for a few seconds, then reacted, the veins on his temples throbbing: "You... teamed up to scare me?!"

"Otherwise?" Wei Aola finally stopped laughing and wiped the corners of her eyes. "If I really wanted to slice you up for research, do you think you'd still be lying here awake? You would have been soaked in maintenance fluid long ago."

Her tone was relaxed, but deep in the eyes she looked at Jie Ming with, there indeed remained genuine curiosity and inquiry.

Dean also returned to his usual expression and said indifferently: "When we received the distress signal, based on the description, we originally thought we were going to see you in the backup library's body activation room."

He paused: "I didn't expect you to actually hold on. Wei Aola is right; your kind of... 'death resistance' is indeed beyond the scope of conventional cognition and is worth noting."

He changed the subject, his gaze looking calmly at Jie Ming: "However, that is your secret. Rest assured, wizard knowledge is protected by Level 9 Wizards, so don't worry."

After speaking, he said no more and turned to walk out the door, the gray hem of his robe brushing across the floor silently.

Watching his mentor's departing back, Jie Ming breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, junior brother." Wei Aola approached silently again, lowering her voice, her face wearing her familiar shrewdness.

"Seriously, your 'hard to die no matter how you mess with it' modification technology... are you selling it? Or maybe technology licensing? This fault tolerance is too exaggerated; it's practically a second life! Even for me, if I suffered the kind of injuries you did, the survival probability would be less than one percent."

"What do you mean 'hard to die no matter how you mess with it modification technology', can't you give it a better name?!" Jie Ming's temples throbbed, and then he shook his head helplessly.

He knew in his heart that this wasn't any modification technology; not dying relied entirely on the adaptive evolution of the Body Tempering Method.

But he was still exploring the principles of the Body Tempering Method's adaptive evolution himself, let alone reproducing or selling it.

An awkward but polite smile appeared on his face: "Senior sister, this... really isn't a mature technology. It's an accidental byproduct of some of my previous experiments; the principles are unstable, let alone reproducing it. Once I've researched it thoroughly and the technology is mature, I'll definitely consider you first."

Wei Aola curled her lips, looking somewhat regretful.

But she also knew how strong wizards' awareness of protecting their core secrets was, so she didn't continue to pester him, only emphasizing once: "Fine, remember what you said. If you really want to sell it in the future, you must contact me; the price is negotiable."

"Definitely, definitely." Jie Ming promised quickly, then changed the subject, "By the way, senior sister, how is the battlefield situation now?"

Mentioning business, Wei Aola's expression became more serious: "Same as usual, sending reconnaissance units to each other, spreading out like a net to find the 'trump card' wizards on the other side who are setting up large-scale war sorcery. After fighting for so long, both sides are nearing the most important stage for the things they should be setting up, so the recent reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance battles have been particularly intense, and the casualty rate has risen sharply."

(End of chapter)