Cultivating in the Wizard World

Consciousness slowly rises from the darkness.

The first sensation is a comfort that permeates the soul.

It's like soaking in spring water at just the right temperature, infused with vitality; a gentle and continuous power seeps in from all directions, smoothing out those hideous cracks and burning pain deep in consciousness.

Jeming opens his eyes.

His gaze meets a cold metallic arched ceiling.

Turning his head slightly, he notices he's lying flat on a wide metallic platform, the surface engraved with extremely complex and precise composite arrays.

At the moment, these arrays are operating steadily, emitting a gentle milky white glow.

The glow circulates as if alive, gathering into streams of warm energy that continuously pour into his fractured soul.

Jeming senses briefly that the state of soul deficiency hasn't changed; the missing sixty percent remains vacant.

Yet the remaining soul, almost completely shattered from severe trauma and forcibly bonded by his Lifebound Magical Treasure, is now carefully "stitched" together and "reinforced" by a gentle yet resilient power.

The cracks still exist, but no longer threaten to collapse; instead, they show a slow trend of healing.

This implies that even if he leaves the healing array now, he can gradually recover with his own strength; it's merely a matter of time.

It's essentially a shift from near death to serious injury.

"Judging by the biological clock... five days have passed?" Jeming calculates the time silently, feeling slightly relieved.

It seems Nolun Workshop's healing technology is quite reliable.

"Main life signs stabilized, soul fluctuations trending orderly, consciousness activity reaches standard, others have been informed. Wizard Jeming, how are you feeling?"

A metallic synthesized voice without emotional fluctuations sounds beside his ear.

Jeming turns his head and sees an entirely silver humanoid mechanical body standing next to the platform.

Its smooth face lacks facial features, only a slightly glowing blue crystal array that scans him.

"Caregiver series mechanical body?" Jeming tries to move his fingers, feeling a slight stiffness in the joints but no major issues, "Feels... much better. Thank you."

"Duty-bound. Conducting in-depth soul scan and physical state assessment, please remain relaxed." The silver mechanical body extends slender metallic fingers, its fingertips emitting several delicate probing beams covering Jeming's body.

Just then...

Bang!

The heavy metal door of the treatment room is pushed open with brute force, hitting the inner wall with a dull thud.

A silver-gray figure storms in with the momentum of wind and thunder, silver-gray eyes instantly locking onto Jeming on the metal platform.

It's Viola.

She casually pushes aside the nearby mechanical body issuing warnings, leaning her face toward Jeming's bedside.

The usual elegance and composure on her face have vanished, replaced by a mixture of astonishment and unabashed amusement.

Her gaze is like discovering an unprecedented strange material.

Another figure walks in unhurriedly.

A simple gray wizard robe, an indifferent expression, eyes as calm as an ancient well, it is Professor Clark.

His gaze also falls on Jeming, contrasting with Viola's "intensity," his gaze is much more tranquil.

Jeming feels slightly unnerved under their gazes, especially by Viola's look that seems ready to dissect him for research. "Senior Sister Viola, Professor Clark... what's going on?"

Viola doesn't immediately respond but circles the metal platform slowly, her eyes sweeping over every part of Jeming's body like a blade.

Finally stopping near his head, she bends down, her silver-gray pupils staring closely into Jeming's eyes, exclaiming in an exaggerated tone:

"Junior, oh junior... you've really given us a huge 'surprise'." She points a finger with dark red nail polish at Jeming's forehead, "Soul deficiency exceeding sixty percent, the remaining part on the brink of total collapse, body also suffering multiple deep injuries... with such wounds, not just a Fifth Level but even many Sixth Level Wizards not skilled in soul domain would have long perished."

She straightens up, hugging her arms, the amusement on her face even more pronounced: "Yet you incredibly endured, even counter-attacked and killed a group of pursuers in that state, and eventually... well, let's discuss the rest later. So, my dear junior, can we discuss something?"

Jeming feels an ominous premonition: "...What is it?"

"Look," Viola smiles like a fox discovering honey, "Your 'should-have-died-but-didn't' trait is immensely valuable for research! Behind this lie principles of soul resilience, life maintenance mechanisms, and even certain unknown resistance laws... it's practically a key to deeper soul mysteries! So..."

She leaned in closer, her voice full of temptation, "Want to sacrifice a bit of yourself for the advancement of knowledge? Don't worry, it won't kill you, I promise... sort of."

She blinked, "At most, it's just cutting a small piece of soul tissue, we can collaborate on research, you'll be the lead author if there's a breakthrough..."

"Collaborate my foot, I'm the one being researched, aren't I?!"

Jeming's hair stood on end as he rejected her without thinking, "Impossible! Senior Sister, don't even think about it!"

He instinctively looked towards his mentor, hoping the strict yet fair Professor Clark would say something.

However, when he saw Professor Clark's expression, his heart sank.

On Clark's eternally indifferent face, there was actually a hint of interest?

He slightly tilted his head, his brow barely furrowing, seemingly seriously considering Viola's proposal's feasibility.

His gaze roamed over Jeming, as if evaluating where to make the incision.

"Men-mentor?!" Jeming's voice wavered.

It was just then that Jeming suddenly realized something was off with his surroundings.

Beneath him, this metal platform...

The cold touch, the groove design to restrain the body, the surrounding mechanical arms clearly meant for fixation and precise operations, and the adjustable high-energy irradiation lamp overhead...

This was no high-grade treatment bed!

This was clearly a high-end dissection table and soul surgery platform in a lab!

"Damn!"

Jeming was so scared he almost literally lost his soul, feeling the stitches on his recently mended soul tremble.

His survival instincts instantly overwhelmed everything, his body reacted with explosive strength, his waist powered up, and he sprang from the metal table like a spring, leaping back several meters, his back against the wall, watching the two of them in front of him with full alert.

"Pff... hahaha!" Viola was momentarily stunned, then burst into laughter without any decorum, laughing so hard she bent over, tears almost streaming down, "Junior, your reaction... hahaha! Too amusing!"

Even the usually emotionless Professor Clark next to her, his mouth curved ever so slightly upward.

The 'interest' in his eyes quickly faded, returning to his usual indifference, though a subtle, almost indistinguishable hint of amusement seemed to flash deep within his gaze.

Jeming looked at the laughing Viola, then at the faintly smiling mentor, froze for a few seconds before realizing, veins popping at his temples, "You... teamed up to scare me?!"

"What else?" Viola barely managed to stop laughing, wiped her eyes, "If we were really going to slice you for research, do you think you'd still be lying here awake? You'd have long been floating in the sustaining fluid."

Her tone was relaxed, but the look in her eyes towards Jeming indeed retained a genuine curiosity and exploration.

Clark also returned to his usual expression, speaking calmly, "When we received the rescue signal, based on the description, we originally thought we'd be meeting you in the activated room of the backup body's storage."

He paused, "Didn't expect you to actually pull through. Viola's right, this kind of... 'resilience,' indeed exceeds conventional understanding, worth noting."

His tone shifted, eyes calmly looking at Jeming, "But that's your secret. Rest assured, wizard's knowledge is protected by Ninth Level Wizards, no need to worry."

After speaking, he didn't say more, turned to walk out, the hem of his gray robe silently brushing the floor.

Watching his mentor's departing figure, Jeming let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, junior." Viola stealthily approached again, lowered her voice, a familiar shrewdness on her face.

"Seriously, this kind of 'hard-to-die modification technology'... selling it? Or tech licensing would be fine too! This error tolerance is exaggerated, it's practically a second life! Even for me, with such wounds like yours, the survival rate wouldn't be more than one percent."

"What do you mean 'hard-to-die modification technology,' can't you give it a nicer name?!" Jeming's temple veins throbbed, then he shook his head helplessly.

He knew well, this wasn't any modification technology, surviving really depended on the body refining technique's adaptive evolution.

But he was still figuring out the principles of body refining technique's adaptive evolution himself, let alone replicating and selling it.

He gave an awkward yet polite smile, "Senior Sister, this... isn't really a matured technology. It's an accidental byproduct from some previous experiments, the principles are unstable, not to mention replicating it. Once I understand it in the future, and the technology matures, I'll definitely consider you first."

Viola pursed her lips, seeming a bit disappointed.

But knowing how protective wizards are of their core secrets, she didn't persist, only emphasizing once, "Alright then, remember your words. If you ever do decide to sell, make sure to contact me, the price can be negotiated."

"Definitely, definitely." Jeming quickly assured, then changed the subject, "By the way, Senior Sister, how's the situation on the battlefield now?"

Talking about serious matters, Viola's expression became more serious, "It's still the same old, dispatching reconnaissance units against each other, spreading out like nets, searching for the opponent's 'ace' wizards setting up large-scale war witchcraft. After so long of fighting, both sides' arrangements are reaching the most crucial stages, making the recent reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance battles especially intense, casualty rates are skyrocketing."