Chapter 579: Evolution and Moonlight

Jie Ming stood in front of the incubation pool, staring at the Black Giant "embryos" gestating in the pool, his brows slightly furrowed.

Time had flown by, and half a month had passed.

The breakthrough in alchemy meant that Jie Ming had reached a certain standard in biological knowledge.

With this, he began to prepare for various research projects he had previously put down due to insufficient knowledge levels.

For example, research on the modification of cannon-fodder units...

Among them, the most important was the research on the only 7th-tier Black Giant, the Black Giant leader, Rong Shan.

After all, that was the most powerful individual under his command, with the highest research value.

However, Jie Ming didn't rashly start researching Rong Shan right away; instead, he planned to start from the low level and gradually move up. After all, the birth of the Black Giants had also seen nearly a thousand years of time.

In such a long period of natural evolution, the Black Giant group had also undergone some subtle mutations; he needed to understand these changes to lay the foundation for researching Rong Shan next.

Figure out the basic ones first, then challenge the profound ones.

Over the past half month, he had checked over a hundred Black Giants of different levels, from 3rd-tier to 6th-tier, making detailed records for each one. Body structure, energy circuits, core layout, soul fluctuations...

All data was entered into the Fate System for cross-comparison.

Jie Ming discovered that the core of the Black Giants hadn't undergone any changes.

That energy core he initially designed, constructed based on the "Five Viscera Sacrificial Divine Art" and the elemental creature talent, had hardly changed in nearly a thousand years. Every Black Giant's core followed the template he set initially, quite precise and stable.

But this was also normal; after all, if it weren't stable enough, the Black Giant race wouldn't even have the possibility of becoming a natural race. And a thousand years of time wasn't considered long for the evolution of living beings, so the core part indeed wouldn't undergo any changes.

But... their bodies had changed.

Jie Ming pulled up two records.

One was the standard template of the Black Giants 900 years ago, and the other was the actual data of the 3rd-tier Black Giant he had just tested.

"Shoulder expansion by three degrees..."

"Metal density constituting the body increased by 7%..."

"Skin metal stratum corneum thickness decreased, but toughness increased..."

"Energy conduction path optimized, efficiency increased by 12%..."

Jie Ming compared them item by item, the light in his eyes growing brighter.

These changes weren't designed by him.

They were mutations that occurred naturally in the Black Giant race over the past thousand years in order to adapt to the environment.

This environment didn't refer to the environment of the Purgatory Sulfur Plane, although this also had an impact, but more importantly, it was the evolution that occurred continuously for the veterans who survived in order to adapt to the high-intensity plane battlefield.

Every change was very small, but accumulated, it was enough to raise the overall quality of the entire race by a level.

Placed on an individual, these changes actually weren't very eye-catching, even a bit too weak.

After all, every Black Giant came with a body-refining method from birth and could also adaptively evolve to a certain extent.

But this was the evolution of the group!

Even newborn Black Giants had this change.

So the more critical place was—the incubation pool had also changed.

Jie Ming turned to walk toward the control core of the incubation pool, his spiritual power probing in to start reading the data.

The incubation pool he designed initially was a standard "production line" transformed based on the incubation pool of the Lava Giant clan. Input energy and materials, output standardized Black Giant individuals.

Every individual should have been manufactured strictly according to the template, exactly the same, with no difference at all.

But now, subtle changes had appeared in the core runes of the incubation pool.

Those changes weren't modified manually, but were subtly influenced by the Incense Divine Path during long-term operation.

"This is the Incense Divine Path..."

Jie Ming couldn't help but marvel.

He suddenly remembered the records in the ancient books of the Great Dao Book Pavilion.

In the cultivation world, those Incense Divine Paths that had been managed for tens of millions of years had residents under their command who possessed astonishing talent from the moment of birth. Some had the lifespan and power of the Golden Core Stage as soon as they were born, and their aptitude could also easily cultivate to the Soul Transformation Stage.

That wasn't natural; it was "raised" by the Incense Divine Path.

The Incense Divine Path connected every believer, able to perceive their state and collect their information.

When a believer produced a beneficial mutation, the Incense Divine Path would automatically capture this mutation and then replicate it to the entire race through the belief network. Generation after generation of accumulation, generation after generation of optimization, ultimately allowing the entire race to obtain those "beneficial mutations."

Ultimately achieving the feat of everyone being like a dragon.

"In other words..."

Jie Ming looked at those gestating Black Giant embryos, the corners of his mouth slowly hooking into a smile.

"As long as they experience enough battlefields and enough time, they will become stronger on their own."

He withdrew his spiritual power and wrote in his logbook:

【Black Giant Race Evolution Observation Log】

【Conclusion: The Incense Divine Path possesses a "Group Strengthening" function. Beneficial mutations are automatically captured and replicated. Under long-term operation, the overall quality of the race will continue to improve.】

【Suggestion: No manual intervention needed, regular observation and recording will suffice.】

Closing the logbook, Jie Ming was just about to continue with the next research project when the Magic Network terminal suddenly vibrated.

【Alfred: Lord Jie Ming, the "moon" modification has been completed, please inspect.】

Jie Ming's eyes lit up.

He put away the logbook, strode out of the incubation pool, and flew toward the direction of the elemental pool.

Halfway through, he looked up at the sky.

At this time, the Purgatory Sulfur Plane was in the daytime.

On the grey-red firmament, of the positions where the two light orbs originally hung, only one remained.

The projection of the Fire Elemental Plane was still bright, while the projection of the 7th-tier large elemental pool had disappeared without a trace.

"Hidden well."

Jie Ming nodded and continued forward.

Flying near the elemental pool, the construction team leader Alfred was already waiting there.

That was a 6th-tier array master with grey hair and beard, followed by dozens of team members.

"Lord Jie Ming." Alfred greeted him, "According to your requirements, the array has been completely modified. Day-night switching, spectrum adjustment, all tests passed."

Jie Ming landed in front of him and looked up at the huge elemental pool.

From the outside, it didn't have any changes.

But Jie Ming's Eye of Universality could see that on the protective array around the elemental pool, there was an extra layer of complex rune structure.

"You'll be able to see it at night." Alfred laughed, "Would you like to go back and rest first, and come to inspect after dark?"

"Alright!"

Jie Ming nodded.

A few hours later, night fell.

Jie Ming stood outside the laboratory, looking up at the sky.

The projection of the Fire Elemental Plane had sunk below the horizon.

This was the plane rotation period he had specially adjusted to make the night longer.

In the sky, a piece of cold moonlight was slowly emerging.

That light was completely different from the daytime.

Unlike the scorching brightness of the Fire Elemental projection, it was soft, cold, and carried a trace of faint silver-blue.

It hung in the center of the firmament, surrounded by the grey-red night sky, forming a strange sense of beauty.

Jie Ming narrowed his eyes, and the Eye of Universality was activated.

The moonlight spectrum decomposed into countless fine bands in his eyes.

He had specially requested Alfred to simulate the frequency band of the Water Elemental Plane projection, and the bands at this moment were indeed exactly the same as the Water Elemental projection. Although it didn't have any actual effect, it looked more like the "moon" in his concept.

A commotion came from the distance.

Jie Ming turned his head to look; it was the direction of the Black Giant colony.

Those black figures walked out of their houses one after another, looking up at the moon in the sky, whispering and pointing.

Although Jie Ming had notified them long ago that a "moon" would appear, these lives that had never seen a moon before still couldn't hide their surprise when they saw it with their own eyes.

Jie Ming smiled and turned to walk toward an array beside the laboratory.

That was a "Moonlight Collection Array" he had arranged in advance.

100 meters in diameter, composed of 360 small rune pillars, with a crystal core the size of a fist in the center.

The entire array was specially used for collecting moonlight power, which was the first step in the Di Liu Jiang manufacturing process.

Jie Ming walked to the center of the array and sat cross-legged.

Spiritual power was injected into it, and the array lit up instantly.

360 rune pillars emitted light simultaneously, and those lights intertwined, forming a beam of light that shot into the sky, pointing directly at the moon in the sky. Wherever the beam of light passed, the spiritual energy in the air began to riot, as if it were being pulled by something.

Jie Ming closed his eyes, sensing the operation of the array.

He could "see" countless fine light points falling from the direction of the moon.

Those light points were extremely thin, almost imperceptible, but under the traction of the array, they began to converge toward the center.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three...

The moon slowly crossed the firmament, and the east turned a fish-belly white.

When the moon was about to sink below the horizon, Jie Ming opened his eyes.

He raised his right hand, and the crystal core in the center of the array slowly flew up and fell into his palm.

Inside the core, a ball of faint silver light was flowing.

That light was very weak, like a drop of water, ready to dissipate at any time.

"This is moonlight..."

Jie Ming sensed it and frowned slightly.

Too little.

The harvest of this night contained a total energy amount roughly equivalent to the energy intensity of a 1st-tier wizard spell.

This amount was really too small, and compared to the moonlight power recorded in the Great Dao Book Pavilion, the purity was also quite a bit worse, containing a lot of spiritual energy that hadn't been fully converted.

At the very least, the moonlight power in front of him couldn't be used to refine Di Liu Jiang at all.

Jie Ming quickly figured out the reason.

Moonlight power was essentially a product of "concept." The stronger the concept, the more the harvest.

The Black Giant colony saw the moon for the first time tonight, and this concept had just begun to be established, so it was naturally thin.

Once they got used to the existence of the moon, and once they lived under the moonlight for decades or centuries, this concept would become stronger and stronger, and the harvest would become more and more.

Moreover, he had only arranged a small collection array beside the laboratory now.

Once collection arrays were laid out across the entire Purgatory Sulfur Plane in the future, covering all areas where Black Giants lived, the efficiency could be increased by at least 10,000 times. "Fortunately, confirmed that moonlight can be manufactured."

Jie Ming put away that ball of moonlight power and turned to walk toward Alfred and his party.

"Inspection passed."

He raised his hand to transfer the money.

【Final payment successful: 5 million low-tier military merits】

Alfred looked at the number that arrived, his face blooming with a smile.

"Lord Jie Ming is straightforward! If you need anything in the future, come find us anytime!"

Jie Ming nodded and sent the construction team away.

Returning to the laboratory, he took out that ball of moonlight power and examined it in his palm.

The silver light flowed slightly, like a ball of living mercury.

With this amount, don't even think about extracting Di Liu Jiang.

But doing some other tests should be enough. ===== CHAPTER 580 =====

But doing some other tests should be enough.