Chapter 544: Modification and New Subsystems

Dozens of days later, Jie Ming stopped the operation in his hands.

The various massive magic arrays around him slowly extinguished, and the various lights emanating from the Nest also dissipated.

He stepped back two paces, looked at the massive organism before him, and nodded with satisfaction.

After this period of effort, the modification was finally complete.

The Nest before him didn't look much different from before—it was still that mass of semi-transparent gelatinous substance, still emitting a faint blue luster, looking like a giant slime.

But Jie Ming knew that its interior was completely different.

He pulled up the light screen, browsing through the data after the modification while organizing his thoughts on this modification in his mind.

First was the positioning issue.

In Jie Ming's design, the Nest was originally a biological warship, possessing both the functions of an arsenal and a combat unit.

But now, the automated factories in the internal cave heaven could completely replace its production function; continuing to retain the arsenal function would only make its positioning blurry.

So Jie Ming simply canceled that part, making it a purely water-based combat unit.

Since it was a purely water-based unit, combat methods naturally needed key improvements.

In this regard, Jie Ming had been prepared for a long time.

Back on the battlefield of coordinated combat, he had once saved a Level 5 Wizard from his own workshop.

That person was a specialist in the Water Element Law, and afterward, to express gratitude, he gave Jie Ming his life's work: "Water Element Shaping and Energy Compression Technology" in its entirety.

It was, after all, the core technology of a Level 5 Wizard; this technology, combined with some methods Jie Ming had originally mastered, was enough to bring the Nest's combat power in water to a considerable level.

Jie Ming marked "Completed" on the record of that technology and continued to look down.

Next was the core of this modification—time technology.

The Nest originally possessed a certain degree of time manipulation ability, which was biological technology from the Snow Monsters, capable of slowing down surrounding enemy units and accelerating its own actions.

Jie Ming strengthened this ability, and now the effect was nearly double what it was before.

According to the standard that enemy deceleration equals self-acceleration, although each item only increased by one fold, the superposition of this acceleration and deceleration meant the Nest's speed was four times faster than before.

But this was just the foundation.

The true core was a small spell he had engraved into the Nest's core consciousness using that biological tissue as material.

Time reversal.

To be precise, it was a small-scale time reversal, limited only to the Nest's own body.

The source of this technology undoubtedly came from the Reincarnation Plane.

As long as the Nest received damage, this spell would automatically trigger, reversing the state of the damaged part of the body to before the injury.

Simply put, as long as it wasn't killed in one hit, it could quickly return to normal.

Jie Ming watched the inspection of this part on the light screen pass quickly and nodded with satisfaction.

However, time reversal was just a fallback measure.

Simple time reversal just made it hard to kill; it wasn't enough to produce a qualitative change.

He also stored a massive amount of biological information inside the Nest.

This information came from his collection over the years—various variants of the Sickle-Skull race, various special organisms from the Airspace Plane, those eerie organisms from the Triangle Plane, and even partial structural data of the Black Giants.

Paired with the time reversal ability, the Nest could immediately "evolve" corresponding biological structures to resist or counter after receiving a certain type of attack.

For example, if it received a fire-type attack, it could temporarily generate a heat-resistant carapace; if it received an ice-type attack, it could mimic the cold-resistant tissue of the Snow Monsters; if it received piercing damage, it could locally harden...

Theoretically, as long as it was given time to adapt, it could be immune to the vast majority of damage types.

More importantly, on top of this, Jie Ming also attempted to engrave a body-tempering technique inside it.

However, the effect in this regard was average.

The species form of the Nest was too far from the Black Giants, and even further from individual humans.

The efficiency of the body-tempering technique running on it was far less high than on the Black Giants.

But paired with time reversal, it could still play a considerable role.

However, adding so many functions naturally had corresponding flaws, the biggest of which was the excessively high energy consumption. This was the most headache-inducing problem.

Time reversal consumed energy, adaptive evolution consumed energy, and mutating body posture consumed energy and large amounts of biomass.

And once these functions were activated simultaneously, the energy consumption speed would reach a terrifying level.

If it still relied on the Lava Giant's energy absorption system, the Nest would fall into a dilemma: if the absorption efficiency was too high, it would cause the temperature of the surrounding water to plummet, affecting the water combat environment; if the absorption efficiency was too low, it couldn't keep up with the consumption.

Fortunately, the cross-space energy transmission system of the Incense God Dao had already been debugged.

Jie Ming simply installed a receiving device inside the Nest, which could directly draw energy from the Purgatory Sulfur Plane.

As long as the Incense God Dao was still running, the energy problem was not a problem.

The price was that in order to carry this part of the Law, the Nest's core grew a circle larger, and correspondingly, the size it could control also grew quite a bit.

As for biomass, there was no need to worry.

The Nest's massive size was itself a sufficient biomass warehouse.

And in combat, it could devour enemies, converting the enemy's flesh and blood into its own biomass reserve.

As long as it didn't encounter an opponent it couldn't swallow, biomass would basically not be lacking.

Jie Ming turned off the light screen and looked at the Nest before him.

"Let's go, let's go test it."

The surface of the giant slime rippled with water-like patterns, responding to Jie Ming's voice.

The test room was located below the core laboratory and was a super-large space specifically opened up using space technology.

When Jie Ming teleported to the test room with the Nest, the Black Giant priests had already prepared various test equipment inside.

In the center of the massive space was an artificially created ocean, over a thousand meters deep, with an area sufficient to accommodate the Nest's free movement.

The Nest slid into the water, that mass of semi-transparent gelatinous substance stretching out in the water, appearing exceptionally at ease.

Jie Ming hovered in the observation area of the test room, with several Black Giant priests responsible for recording data standing beside him.

"Begin," he said.

First test: Offensive capability.

Jie Ming waved his hand, and a row of targets appeared above the water surface, each target lighting up with an energy shield.

Those were energy targets specifically used to test damage intensity, ranging from Level 1 to Level 6.

The Nest contracted slightly in the water, then released violently.

A water column shot out from its body under its control, condensing in the air into dozens of sharp water spears, whistling toward those targets. *Puff, puff, puff... *

The energy targets below Level 5 shattered upon impact.

"Water spear shooting, power covers Level 4 to Level 5," a Black Giant priest recorded quickly. "Penetration is excellent, rapid-fire speed is good." Jie Ming nodded.

The Nest on the other side moved again.

This time, the water flow around it began to rotate violently, forming a massive vortex in the blink of an eye.

At the center of the vortex, water was continuously compressed into a supercritical state, and then a highly compressed water blade shot out, slashing toward the Level 6 target. *Boom! *

The Level 6 energy target trembled violently, ripples appearing on its surface.

Jie Ming, seeing this, felt some regret.

This destructive power was indeed good, because he had used technology similar to runic wizard tools in the spell model used by the Nest.

It could significantly increase the effect of the spell by mobilizing a large amount of energy.

"Pity;..."

Jie Ming felt some regret in his heart; the control level required for modifying spell release was too high, and it also required the caster to have a certain degree of understanding of the Law of Spiritual Energy.

At least at Jie Ming's current knowledge level, he couldn't make the Nest learn modified spells.

Otherwise, this strike would have been the power of a standard Level 6 spell.

"Continue," he said.

Second test: Defensive capability.

A pillar of fire descended from the sky, slamming straight into the Nest in the water.

The Nest did not dodge.

The moment the flames contacted its body, a large amount of white steam rose up.

But the tissue on the Nest's surface changed rapidly, a heat-insulation layer quickly generated, isolating the flames.

"Fire resistance generated, reaction time reaches standard Level 6 Wizard level," the priest reported.

Jie Ming nodded.

The Nest, after all, was skilled in time-related abilities, and its reaction speed was sufficient to deal with most surprise attacks.

Next was ice-type attack.

A beam of extreme cold hit the Nest, and its body surface began to freeze.

But the next moment, those ice crystals melted—the energy flow pattern inside the Nest changed, and a large amount of heat was mobilized to the area under attack.

Then came lightning strikes, corrosion, piercing...

For every type of attack, the Nest could generate corresponding resistance tissue within a short time.

Although every resistance consumed a lot of energy, the effect was indeed significant.

"Resistance capability is increasing..."

As time passed, a Black Giant priest began to report this.

Jie Ming calculated the ratio of attack density to the time it took for the Nest to evolve corresponding adaptive capabilities and nodded:

"It can be considered... barely satisfactory."

Third test: Time reversal.

This was the part Jie Ming was looking forward to the most.

He took action himself.

A beam of Li Fire Extinction Divine Light shot from his fingertip, piercing directly through the Nest's body—of course, the power was controlled very low.

A massive hole appeared on the Nest's body, with the edges still burning.

But soon, the scene around the hole began to distort, as if time were reversing.

The burning flames shrank back, the pierced tissue regrew, and in the blink of an eye, the hole completely disappeared.

The Nest returned to normal.

"Target has fully recovered," the priest's voice carried a hint of amazement. "Energy consumed... equivalent to the entire energy reserve of a Level 5 Wizard."

Jie Ming smiled.

This consumption was completely acceptable.

"Again," he said.

This time, he increased the power.

A dark golden light that expanded rapidly hit the Nest again; this time, nearly one-third of its body was blown away.

Time reversal triggered again.

This time, the reversal speed was faster, even giving a feeling like skipped frames, and the Nest returned to its original state.

"It seems the technology learned in the Reincarnation Plane is running perfectly; as long as it isn't killed in one hit, it can recover instantly," Jie Ming confirmed this conclusion in his heart.

Subsequently, many other aspects were tested.

Jie Ming looked at those recorded data, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but lift.

"Not bad!" Jie Ming said softly. "At the current stage, it already has the full capability to hold off a relatively low-level Level 6 Wizard for a short time."

This combat level had almost caught up to the Level 7 Black Giant leader, Rong Shan, who had just advanced.

He looked at the Nest in the water; that mass of semi-transparent organism seemed to feel his emotions, turning over lightly in the water, the blue luster flashing on and off.

"From today on, you are no longer that idle Nest."

After completing the modification of the Nest, Jie Ming calculated the time and found that less than fifty years remained until the next mandatory conscription.

How should he spend the next fifty years?

Continue modifying the Prowlers?

Jie Ming thought for a moment and shook his head.

The Prowlers were indeed a bit behind.

Having undergone two modifications, they still couldn't keep up with the strength of the Black Giants; logically, he should take this opportunity to upgrade and replace them together.

But the problem was, there wasn't enough time.

Fifty years sounded long, but for modifying a complete biological species, it was actually quite tight.

The modification of the Nest took decades, and that was because he had long prepared the research data on the Sickle-Skull race, and the time-related knowledge had been chewed through in advance. The Prowlers were barely of some use now; at least they could fly, scout, and play a minor role.

Rather than spending fifty years making them slightly more useful, it was better to solve the problems on himself first.

Jie Ming raised his hand and listed a checklist on the light screen.

First, insufficient reconnaissance capability.

He stared at this line for a long time.

Choosing the Causal Tracing Technique as a modification spell back then indeed had its reasons.

That spell was indeed all-encompassing—it could track targets, search for information, and cover its own tracks.

More importantly, the information processing methods within it were perfect for perfecting the "Light God Transformation" combat system.

But being all-encompassing meant it wasn't strong enough compared to specialists at the same level.

If he really reached the battlefield and encountered an opponent specializing in reconnaissance, the Causal Tracing Technique would be a bit insufficient.

And the release speed of the Light God Transformation was also a problem.

Although that "five-step architecture" was perfect, each step took time.

Informatization, energy filling, steady-state maintenance, information manipulation, energy resonance fusion—after walking through the five steps, it was enough for the enemy to react several times. To speed up, one very important point was to improve information processing capability.

Second, information processing capability needed to be improved.

He looked at these two points and fell into deep thought.

Insufficient reconnaissance capability required stronger information acquisition means.

Insufficient information processing capability required stronger information processing means.

Jie Ming pondered for a moment, closed his eyes, and sank deep into his consciousness.

There, the Dao Library, like white jade, floated quietly.

As his consciousness moved, streams of light flew out from the library, forming several rows of bookshelves before him.

On these bookshelves were various classics regarding the Incense God Dao.

From basic theory to high-tier applications, from array arrangement to believer management, everything was there.

Jie Ming's gaze landed on one of the jade slips.

【Incense God Dao: Fate Chapter】

He reached out, and the jade slip fell into his palm.

This was a subsystem of the Incense God Dao.

Strictly speaking, it was knowledge about "Fate"—how to perceive the fate trends of believers through the power of incense, how to extract information threads from thousands of beliefs, and how to build an information processing network within the God Dao system.

That's right, he intended to add a new subsystem to the Incense God Dao.

Fate.

In this way, the Incense God Dao could not only produce the power of incense and transmit energy across space, but also help him process information, perceive fate, and improve reconnaissance capability.

Killing many birds with one stone.

Jie Ming had once browsed through this content, but his knowledge reserve at the time was insufficient, and he couldn't understand it at all.

And now?

His spiritual sense probed in, and he began.

Half an hour later, Jie Ming withdrew his spiritual sense, his expression complex.

He could understand it.

But that was all—he could only understand it.

The knowledge recorded in this classic was still quite profound.

Jie Ming returned from the depths of his consciousness, thought for a moment, opened the Magic Net terminal, and entered the military merit exchange interface.

Search keywords: Fate, Information, Causality.

Dense entries popped up. From the most basic introductory textbooks to unfathomable Law research, prices ranged from dozens of low-level military merits to millions of high-level military merits.

Jie Ming flipped all the way down and finally stopped on one entry.

【Collection of Basic Knowledge on the Law of Fate (Star Ring Federation General Textbook Edition)】

【Content Introduction: Covers core concepts of the Law of Fate, basic spell model, introductory theory of information perception and processing. Suitable for zero-foundation or shallow-contact systematic learning.】

【Price: 120,000 high-level military merits】

Jie Ming looked at that number, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

120,000.

The high-level military merits he had saved up over these years totaled only a little over a million.

This single purchase took away more than one-tenth.

But he still clicked confirm.

【Purchase Successful】

【Estimated delivery time: within one standard day】

Jie Ming turned off the Magic Net terminal, leaned back in his chair, and let out a soft breath.

The delivery speed of the Star Ring Federation was indeed fast enough; although it said within one standard day, in reality, almost less than a minute after he finished placing the order, the space teleportation array side received the goods.

Soon, a specially made memory crystal was delivered to Jie Ming's hand.

He took the crystal, walked into the study, sat down on the meditation cushion, and his spiritual sense probed in slowly.

Then his brows furrowed.

"This..."

The content inside the crystal was far more complex than he had imagined.

Those formulas, models, and conceptual definitions—he recognized every word, but when put together, they became heavenly books.

Things like "perturbation equation of causal lines," "law-based expression of information entropy," "observation collapse of fate nodes"... Jie Ming watched for a while and silently withdrew his spiritual sense.

He rubbed his temples.

No wonder it sold for 120,000.

If this thing were easy to learn, it wouldn't be worth this price long ago.

But Jie Ming did not give up.

He sighed and probed his spiritual sense in again.

This time he slowed down, chewing through one concept after another.

If he didn't understand something, he would write it down first, look at it repeatedly several times, and if he really couldn't understand it, he would skip it and wait until he had a certain foundation later to come back and understand it. Just like that, he sat in the study for a full year.

A year later, Jie Ming opened his eyes, his expression somewhat exhausted, but his eyes carried a hint of realization.

"Barely considered an introduction." Jie Ming shook his head again. "Forget it, at my level, I at most just know what it's about; it can't even be considered an introduction."

The profoundness of the Law of Fate far exceeded his imagination.

Those basic concepts were like a door; after pushing it open, he discovered that behind it was a boundless ocean.

He was just standing at the door now, barely able to hear the sound of the waves.

But Jie Ming was not in a hurry.

He hadn't expected to become a master of the Law of Fate all at once anyway.

He studied Fate-related knowledge just to learn "Fate" knowledge by analogy, not to go very deep in this field. And...

Even if the Fate subsystem wasn't completed in the end, just the knowledge regarding information manipulation was enough to significantly increase the level of Jie Ming's Causal Tracing Technique and the speed of Light God Transformation.

Jie Ming glanced at the memory crystal he had just bought in his hand, then looked at the jade slip in the Dao Library, and couldn't help but sigh. "I have to chew through knowledge on both sides; it's killing me..."

(Just this chapter today) ===== CHAPTER 545 =====