Chapter 573: Aftermath

More than a decade later.

Jie Ming stood inside a floating metal fortress, looking out through the transparent porthole at the endless sea of light outside.

This was the Endless Light Domain—the name wizards used for the core area of the Information Plane.

After more than a decade of transformation, this once purely white world had undergone earth-shaking changes.

Countless metal buildings floated in the sea of light, wizard runes intertwined with the light patterns of the information-based lifeforms, forming an eerie yet harmonious scene. The territory of the Information Plane was vast, but the information-based lifeforms cooperated too well.

Once the Supreme Consensus Algorithm decided to surrender, the entire race operated like a precision machine.

In just a few short years, the reception work was basically completed.

What needed to be studied was being studied, what needed to be migrated was being migrated, what needed to be cooperated on was being cooperated on; everything was efficient to the point of near-indifference.

Jie Ming should have left more than a decade ago.

But for certain reasons, he had to stay behind.

The Magic Network terminal vibrated.

"Oh, looks like it's time."

Jie Ming took a look, turned away from the porthole, walked through the long corridor, and arrived in front of a huge metal door.

The door opened automatically, revealing a treatment room filled with medical pods.

Once, this place had been filled with people.

However, at this moment, most of the medical pods were already empty; only in the deepest part was there a row of pods with faint lights, indicating that there were still people inside. Jie Ming walked to one of the medical pods.

Lying inside the pod was a 5th-tier wizard, eyes closed tight, complexion calm, breathing steady, exactly the same as those silent wizards from back then. Or rather, this wizard was indeed in a state of silence.

Jie Ming raised his hand and tapped a few times on the operation panel beside the pod.

A moment later, the wizard inside the pod opened their eyes.

The person was dazed for a moment, then sat up abruptly, gasping for air.

They looked down at their own hands, then looked up at the surroundings, an expression of disbelief gradually emerging in their eyes.

"This..."

They clenched their fists, sensing something, and ecstasy welled up on their face.

"My spiritual power... my intensity of elemental manipulation... it's increased by at least thirty percent!"

They turned their head to look at Jie Ming, their eyes full of gratitude.

"Lord Jie Ming, thank you!"

Jie Ming waved his hand.

"No need to thank me, I'm just operating according to procedure. And..."

He smiled and pointed to the instrument panel beside him, "During your coma, the expeditionary force charged by the day. I'm just a wage earner." The person was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Worth it! Totally worth it!"

They jumped out of the medical pod, stretched their body, the smile on their face impossible to hide.

Jie Ming checked the data beside him and nodded.

"The situation is stable, you can leave. Turn left outside, there are people handling the follow-up procedures."

"Alright!"

The person ran out joyfully, their footsteps so light they seemed ready to fly.

Jie Ming watched their departing back, then turned to look at the remaining medical pods, shaking his head helplessly.

These wizards in a state of silence were not the ones from the first batch.

In fact, after the information-based lifeforms surrendered, the wizards quickly obtained the method to break the silence from them.

So, originally, this matter should have ended there.

But the problem was...

The first batch of wizards who woke up from silence discovered that their combat power had increased significantly.

Not just a little, but a qualitative leap.

Spiritual power was more condensed, perception of elements was sharper, spellcasting speed was faster...

More importantly, they had gained an instinct from the entropy-reduction cycle: the instinct to absorb external elements to a certain extent for their own manipulation. This was quite exaggerated; one must know that the fundamental reason for wizards' powerful combat strength was the ability to use knowledge to leverage the output multiplier of elements, letting one unit of elements exert the power of ten million.

And this ability was equivalent to a solid increase in the "base" for mobilizing elements.

For the previous ones, wizards had plenty of ways to improve as long as they consumed resources.

But for this one, except for silence, there was simply no other way to improve.

After the news spread, the entire expeditionary force was in an uproar.

That was a "base" improvement!

Consequently, what should have been a finished matter turned into a "silence craze."

Wizards flocked to voluntarily request to enter a state of silence, and then be awakened.

Unfortunately, after accepting the surrender of the information-based lifeforms, Wizard Martin quickly went into seclusion to study.

He had obtained the entropy-reduction law he wanted and needed time to digest it.

This seclusion lasted for more than a decade.

And in the entire expeditionary force, besides Martin, the one who understood silence the best was actually Jie Ming.

After all, he had the knowledge of the cultivation system as a foundation—that was inherently a path more inclined toward entropy reduction.

Coupled with the fact that when he was pressured by the Supreme Consensus Algorithm in the virtual space, he had attained enlightenment under life-and-death pressure, his understanding of the entropy-reduction cycle had reached a quite deep level.

Even deeper than many high-tier wizards.

Consequently, entrusted by other high-tier wizards, Jie Ming became the person in charge of this "silence awakening" project.

He had been doing this for more than a decade.

"Speaking of which..."

Jie Ming muttered to himself, "I should be leaving soon too."

He walked to the next medical pod, just about to continue operating, when the door behind him opened automatically.

A sound of light footsteps came.

Jie Ming turned his head and saw a 7th-tier wizard with grey hair and beard walk in.

"Jie Ming."

"Senior Alva."

Jie Ming nodded in greeting.

This Wizard Alva was one of the first batch of people who participated in the plane war with Martin.

The two came from the same wizard force and could be considered Martin's direct subordinates.

Over the past decade or so, he had come here often.

Alva walked to Jie Ming's side and took a look at the remaining medical pods.

"How many more have woken up?"

"One just left." Jie Ming pointed to the door, "Five remain, expected to wake up within this week."

Alva nodded and patted Jie Ming on the shoulder.

"You've worked hard these past ten years."

Jie Ming shook his head.

"Hard work is not the word; I've also gained quite a few benefits."

This was the truth.

The process of helping others awaken from silence was also a form of learning for him.

Every time he awakened someone, he could understand the operation of the entropy-reduction cycle more deeply and perceive the subtle changes that occurred in those wizards' spiritual seas during silence.

Over the past decade, the experience he had accumulated in this area had become so profound that even high-tier wizards sighed in admiration.

Alva smiled and didn't say any more polite words.

"When are you leaving?"

Jie Ming was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You've been pushing away work since last year; who couldn't see that?" Alva teased, "If it weren't for us old guys helping you share the load, you would have been annoyed to death by that group of people waiting for silence."

Jie Ming felt a bit awkward:

"It's decided; I'll leave once these few wake up."

He looked at the endless sea of light outside the window, his tone calm.

"Over these ten years, you seniors have learned just about enough. In the future, if any other wizards want to undergo silence, with your abilities, you'll be able to recover them very easily."

Alva nodded, then asked again: "Do you really not need to try silence yourself?"

Jie Ming was silent for a moment, then shook his head with a smile.

"No need."

He explained: "In the process of helping others recover, I've also gained quite a lot. Now... I've reached the limit."

Alva looked at him and didn't ask further.

At their level, everyone knew what "limit" meant.

Not a bottleneck, but simply "unable to continue improving under the current circumstances."

"Alright." Alva patted his shoulder, "Since you've decided, leave with peace of mind. With us old guys watching over here, nothing will go wrong."

Jie Ming nodded and turned to continue walking toward the next medical pod. ===== CHAPTER 574 =====