I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 999: Molten Mountain’s Breakthrough

Time slipped quietly by in continuous research and study.

In the blink of an eye, several more centuries had passed since Jie Ming completed the optimization of the new version of Leap Power.

As the resources provided by the Level-One Cultivation Protocol kept pouring in, more and more material was brought into the laboratory, and the scope of Jie Ming’s studies widened accordingly.

The process was not exactly easy, but fortunately he lacked neither time nor resources.

So long as the right direction of research was settled, Jie Ming could advance steadily at his own pace.

On this day, Jie Ming was sitting in the first laboratory, studying a document on elemental transformation.

The model on the light screen turned continuously, with masses of data laid out around several elemental structures.

He had just finished the preliminary calculations when the laboratory’s communication device suddenly lit up, and the figure of a Black Giant priest appeared on the light screen.

This Black Giant priest looked markedly more worked up than usual, and even his voice was a few notches louder than normal: “My Lord, there is important news!”

Jie Ming stopped what he was doing and looked up at him. “What is it?”

“Lord Molten Mountain has broken through!”

The priest said excitedly: “Lord Molten Mountain has successfully advanced to the eighth level!”

Jie Ming was momentarily taken aback, and then a look of delighted surprise rose on his face.

Molten Mountain held a special significance for him.

He was one of the earliest Black Giants Jie Ming had ever made, the core fighting strength of his first batch of cannon-fodder units, an old subordinate who had followed him for thousands of years.

He was at once the representative of Jie Ming’s early research results and a witness to the Black Giant race’s continual growth.

Later, the Black Giants had grown steadily in number, formed a complete population structure, and gradually come to have their own culture, priests and combat organization.

Through long accumulation, Molten Mountain too had broken through to the seventh level and become the leader of an important force under Jie Ming’s command.

More importantly, Molten Mountain’s breakthrough to the eighth level meant that Jie Ming could study his process of advancement and find a general path for the Black Giant race to advance to the eighth level.

The Black Giant legion was the core military force under his command. If the whole race could find a road to the eighth level, its overall combat power would leap up another great step.

Whether from the standpoint of research value or from a personal one, this was good news worth confirming in person.

“Has it been confirmed?”

“We have checked again and again. Lord Molten Mountain’s energy level and structure have both undergone a fundamental change. It is absolutely not a passing energy fluctuation!”

The priest was clearly still caught up in his excitement, so much so that he had forgotten the order of the report he had prepared, and hurriedly added: “Lord Molten Mountain is in the second laboratory right now. The Tentacle Tree researchers and several priests are there assisting with the examination. According to the results so far, he should already have stabilized his new power.”

Jie Ming rose to his feet. “I’ll be right there.”

…

…

A moment later, Jie Ming arrived at the second laboratory.

Before he had even entered the core area, he could hear bursts of conversation coming from inside, mixed with the soft hum of instruments at work.

“Measure the elemental density again!”

“Wait, this data doesn’t match the last round. Pull up the records and compare.”

“Don’t let him change form yet. We haven’t finished measuring the surface structure in his current state!”

Clearly, the researchers in the laboratory were all run off their feet.

Jie Ming pushed the door open and walked in, but the sight before him stopped him in his tracks.

In the center of the laboratory stood a black figure only about three meters tall.

Its bodily outline was close to that of an ordinary human, with broad shoulders and well-proportioned limbs.

Around him, at least a dozen or more researchers were busy at work, running test after test on his exact condition with all manner of instruments.

Everyone’s attention was fixed on that three-meter black figure.

Only after looking for several moments did Jie Ming finally confirm who it was.

“Molten Mountain?”

The black figure turned its head and immediately broke into a smile. “Lord Jie Ming!”

It was Molten Mountain, sure enough.

Only, compared with the colossal body over ten thousand meters tall that Jie Ming remembered, the figure before him looked positively pocket-sized.

Jie Ming remembered that while Molten Mountain was still at the seventh level, his body had already stood more than ten thousand meters tall.

Black Giants… especially those on the elemental lord path, were known precisely for their enormous bodies and astonishing strength, and Molten Mountain was the standout among them.

Now that he had advanced to the eighth level, his body had instead shrunk to about three meters.

This really was somewhat beyond his expectations.

“So this is what you’ve become?” Jie Ming stepped closer and examined Molten Mountain’s body carefully.

His perception swept rapidly over the other’s energy structure, and his eyebrows rose.

On the outside, Molten Mountain’s body had indeed shrunk, but the energy density within it had risen to an astonishing degree.

The elemental power that had once been spread through that colossal body was now compressed into a far tighter structure, and the efficiency with which it circulated had changed markedly as well.

Moreover, Molten Mountain’s body no longer showed, as it had at the seventh level, the coarseness peculiar to elemental creatures everywhere one looked.

His various structures had clearly formed far finer connections with one another, the flow of energy was stable and continuous, and even some of the elemental tissues that had once been relatively independent were beginning to show a high degree of coordination.

“It’s a new ability I gained after advancing to the eighth level,” Molten Mountain explained.

He glanced down at his own body, seeming to find his present form rather novel himself.

“Since the breakthrough, I can compress my body at will. Like this it’s easier to get around, and easier to control the power inside me. If I need to fight, I can return to my original size at any time, or even grow bigger.”

As he spoke, he raised an arm, and a ball of pitch-black elemental light surfaced in his palm.

The light was only fist-sized at first, but under Molten Mountain’s control it expanded rapidly, and the surrounding instruments immediately sounded their alarms.

“Stop, stop, stop!” A Tentacle Tree researcher hurriedly waved its tendrils.

“Don’t test it in the laboratory! We haven’t finished the current data collection!”

Molten Mountain quickly reined in his power, and the light in his palm dispersed.

He scratched his head a little sheepishly. “Sorry, I just wanted to show Lord Jie Ming.”

Jie Ming laughed at that. “Not bad, not bad!”

Judging by the energy fluctuation just now, Molten Mountain really did now possess power far beyond what he had had at the seventh level.

As for exactly how far it went, that would need further testing.

“How big is your true form now?”

Molten Mountain scratched his head. “I’d guess somewhere over a hundred kilometers tall. I’m strongest in that state. As for how much power I can bring to bear in compressed form, I still need time to get used to it.”

Jie Ming looked thoughtful.

That was not hard to understand.

For high-level elemental creatures, body size and energy density were not necessarily proportional.

As their life level rose, their control over their own structure changed too, and being able to switch between different forms was not entirely contrary to reason.

Jie Ming went on: “How did you break through? Did you notice any particular changes?”

At this question, the smile on Molten Mountain’s face faded a little, and he began to think back in earnest.

“That… I can’t really say.”

He thought for a moment before saying, somewhat hesitantly: “All these years, I’ve kept absorbing energy and refining my body’s structure the same way as before. Maybe I’d been at it long enough, and the energy inside me kept growing fuller, and then one day I suddenly felt that my old structure couldn’t hold any more power, and then…”

Molten Mountain paused, as if he too found what came next hard to put into words accurately.

“And then I broke through.”

Jie Ming watched him without pressing.

Molten Mountain strained to remember a while longer, and in the end shook his head.

“There was no especially clear sensation. All I know is that after the breakthrough, the power in my body became more stable, and a lot of things I used to have to control deliberately, now it seems I only have to think of them and they’re done. As for exactly what changed, I haven’t worked it out yet.”

By the end, he was even a little embarrassed.

After all, he too knew how important this breakthrough of his was.

If he could describe the process of the breakthrough clearly, he could give Jie Ming more to base his research on.

But as it happened, when the breakthrough actually came, he had not deliberately recorded the changes involved, and by the time he realized he had advanced to the eighth level, it all seemed to be over already.

Jie Ming was not disappointed by this, however.

In fact, Molten Mountain’s case was the normal one. Most elemental creatures in their natural state went through a breakthrough in much the same way.

Under normal circumstances, for a civilization made up of elemental creatures to work out the cause of a breakthrough would take at least dozens of generations of effort.

For wizards, though, there was no need for all that trouble. Molten Mountain himself was the most valuable sample there was.

“It doesn’t matter.” Jie Ming patted him on the shoulder.

“Now that you’ve succeeded, the rest is easy enough. Next, work with the researchers to get every item of data recorded in full, and find out as much as possible about the changes in your bodily structure and energy circulation. Once we’ve gathered enough information, we’ll judge whether this breakthrough was the natural result of long accumulation or whether there are other factors we haven’t yet discovered.”

“Understood!” Molten Mountain straightened up at once. “I’ll cooperate fully with the research!”

Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction and offered him a few words of encouragement:

“Very good. Your breaking through to the eighth level is an important step forward for the Black Giant race. Don’t relax your standards for yourself just because the advancement succeeded. Get familiar with the new power first, then gradually raise your actual combat ability.”

“Yes!”

Molten Mountain’s voice rang out loud and clear, his face full of elation.

Jie Ming did not linger any further. He turned to the several personnel in charge of the research to learn the preliminary findings, and once he had confirmed that no loss of control or structural instability had been found so far, he left the follow-up research to them.

In Molten Mountain’s present state, the most important thing was to preserve as complete a set of data as possible. Everything else could wait.

After taking his leave of them all, Jie Ming returned to the first laboratory.

He was in a good mood.

Molten Mountain’s advancement to the eighth level not only meant one more high-level combatant under his command, it also let him see a chance to further perfect the Black Giant cultivation system.

If stable conditions for advancement could be found in the future, the Black Giant race would no longer have to rely entirely on individuals’ long accumulation and chance breakthroughs.

Of course, this was not something to be rushed.

Jie Ming made his way through the laboratory’s passages as he thought.

However, not long after he returned to the first laboratory, a strange sound suddenly came from the monitoring array.

Jie Ming’s steps halted, and the ease drained rapidly from his face.

He opened the light screen, glanced at the detailed information on the monitoring array, then immediately turned and headed in the direction of the biochemical storage room.