I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 914: Roping People In

And just as Jie Ming and the others were trying to comb further threads out of the intelligence they already held, Jack, on his side, was met with a rare stretch of quiet.

Once Sia had been found, the two of them were taken out of the forest by the military.

Over the days that followed, it was only from the mouths of the soldiers that Jack slowly pieced together how terrible the trial had been.

Because of the Descent Faction’s plot, only two in ten of the students in the whole forest had lived.

The military too had paid a heavy price of its own in dealing with the beast tide and with the enemies who had infiltrated the area.

In the end it was only through the great sacrifice of the garrison units that they forced the beast tide back out beyond the defence line.

The numbers of the dead in that battle were enough to chill the heart of anyone who heard them.

Even having had the luck to live, Jack and Sia could not help going cold themselves at the sight of those parents in the depths of their grief.

Still, it was not all bad news. On the strength of what they had shown during the trial, Jack and Gavin were both taken into the military as special cases.

For two ordinary students with no particular background behind them, this was very nearly a single stride into heaven.

Once they were in the army, resources, training, enhancement potions, all of it was thrown open to them.

Add to that what Jack had gained from the System, and his strength began to climb at a speed that alarmed even him.

Gavin had always been the sort of prodigy who could rise to fifth-level apprentice on a mere trickle of resources, and in the army he took to the water just as readily.

The two were assigned to train together, and in a few short months had made a name for themselves among the new recruits, spoken of jointly as the “Twin Stars”.

One day Jack dropped down from the training apparatus, walked over to the testing instrument beside it, and glanced at his own figures.

Extraordinary ability: 9.6. Life force: 18.

He closed his hand and gave the fist a squeeze.

After several months of training and adjustment, he had at last awakened an extraordinary ability.

And the reading was a good one: his extraordinary ability had already reached the top level of the first stage, and the second was not far off.

His life force, more than that, stood far above the average for a second-stage transcendent. But he knew perfectly well in himself that this was not all of it.

He had held something back during the test. Had he let it out at full strength, his life force would very likely have passed fifty, reaching the level of a fifth-stage transcendent outright.

As for the extraordinary ability, that figure was solid and true.

“So my talent really isn’t good enough after all…” Jack sighed.

He understood it clearly enough. His physical qualities had been brought up with the System’s help, and the reason his extraordinary ability was rising so fast was still that unreasonably vast life force of his, holding it up from underneath.

On his way out of the training area he ran into Gavin, who had likewise just finished.

After what the two of them had been through together in the Descent Faction affair, they were a great deal easier with one another now.

Only after knowing him a while did Jack learn that the fellow was nothing like as hard to get along with as the rumors at school had made out.

Gavin’s temper was in fact a thoroughly cheerful one; it was only that at the time he had not known how to deal with people, and had carried the name of “genius” on top of that, which made him seem silent and solitary.

“How was training today?” Gavin wiped off a bit of sweat and asked with a smile.

“All right. A little better than yesterday,” Jack said offhandedly.

“I hear another new spatial passage has opened in the north.” Gavin lowered his voice. “The things pouring out of it call themselves ‘dinosaur-men’; they look rather like lizards. The strange beasts in that region have been stimulated by the power of the other world, and their evolution has quickened again. The pressure on the northern line is very heavy just now.”

“I heard.” Jack nodded, his face darkening a shade. “The world grows more disordered by the day. Though the military seems to have some new plan; they say it can settle these problems.”

“Let us hope so.” Gavin let out a breath. “These are troubled times, and for the likes of us, only just enlisted, all we can do is grow strong quickly.”

The two chatted idly a little longer, then set off towards the gate of the training base.

No sooner were they out than they saw Sia standing a short way off, looking over in their direction.

Jack smiled, took his leave of Gavin, and went quickly across to meet her.

…

…

These few months had been full and long for Jack; for Jie Ming they were no more than the work of a few enhancement operations and a few stretches of observational record.

“Beep. Enhancement complete. Please recharge as soon as possible.”

Having used his mental energy to complete another enhancement for Jack, Jie Ming set down the auxiliary control crystal in his hand and gave his head a slight shake.

He could see it clearly enough. Jack had been doing well of late, his strength growing steadily, his relations with Sia and with Gavin better and better.

The boy was growing settled, comfortable even, and no longer went hunting for energy to recharge the System with the urgency he had shown at the start.

Jie Ming, however, was in no hurry.

The condition was perfectly normal. Once a man has struggled free of a crisis of life and death, and has gained a stable place to live and resources enough besides, he slows his pace as a matter of course.

But Jack would not be comfortable for long.

To judge by the fragments of information intercepted through the medium over this period, the plane was collapsing at a quickening rate; and with the powers outside pressing in on it, sooner or later the boy would come to lean on the System’s strength again.

Thinking so, he put a call through to Augusta.

“How do things stand on your side?” Jie Ming asked.

“Not well.” Augusta’s answer was crisp. “I have recalibrated the coordinates several times, and tried to establish a spatial passage as well, but every attempt was destroyed by a kind of formless repulsion. It seems that because the plane cluster is in the midst of violent change, it is in a ‘living’ state; the plane’s origin is abnormally active, and its rejection of outside power is unusually strong. Any power not native to the plane, however well hidden, will be perceived by the outer rules and destroyed.”

“So that is why those Descent Faction people needed so many human lives.” Jie Ming saw it now. “I did wonder. The energy crystals in the camp were enough on their own to start that array; why spend life force besides? It was for concealment.”

“Yes. They were using the power of native life to cover over power from outside. The method is crude, but it is very effective.” Augusta paused, then asked suddenly, “And your side? That card you are holding back, can it solve this problem?”

“So long as Jack goes on remaking himself with my power, my power will in the course of it slowly come to be ‘acknowledged’ by this plane,” said Jie Ming.

“His physical qualities have already reached the threshold of a formal wizard. The mental energy I can project across has risen to the degree of a third-level wizard apprentice as well. Once he is stronger still, at roughly the level of a third-level formal wizard, I shall be able to lay out a teleportation array over there on my own.”

“So you still need time,” said Augusta.

“I do.” Jie Ming smiled. “Though it will not take very long. From what I have observed lately, the world around him will soon press him to grow stronger again. His comfort will not last.”

At this Augusta seemed to think for a while before she spoke again. “I have already raised the matter with my grandfather. But there are a good many powers eyeing this plane cluster at present, and the few of us alone are likely not enough. It would be best to rope in several more wizards strong enough for the work.”

“You mean, have me go and ask Mentor Clark?” Jie Ming caught her meaning at once.

“Yes.” Augusta made a sound of assent. “If he has no other important research on hand these next ten years or so, he should be able to free himself up. The fighting strength of this plane cluster somewhat exceeds the limit; with him there, we can move on a steady footing.”

Jie Ming nodded.

“Very well. I shall ask my Mentor whether he has the time,” he said.