Cultivating in the Wizard World

Chapter 635: Chapter 539: News of the Fallen and the Plan

The crowd that had been kneeling scattered like a retreating tide, leaving the area around the teleportation array finally quiet.

David looked around at the dozen or so wizards and broke the silence:

"Ladies and gentlemen, before we officially start working, there is something I need to remind everyone."

Everyone looked at him.

David pointed to the backs of the departing crowd, speaking seriously:

"When speaking to these people, do not be too gentle."

He paused and explained:

"They have been ruled by the Chaos Secret Sect for three hundred years. The concept of hierarchy is deeply ingrained in them. If we communicate with them using Nolun Workshop’s ’egalitarian’ approach, it will confuse them, or even..." He shook his head, "give rise to inappropriate thoughts."

Someone frowned: "What do you mean?"

"It means they think we’re easy to bully," a wizard with some experience beside him chimed in, "Don’t laugh, I’ve encountered this before. You speak nicely, they think you’re weak, and start to act covertly. Then, when you show your true colors, they’re scared to death and beg for mercy."

David nodded: "So, in the initial stages, maintaining a suitable level of authority is necessary. We don’t need to be evil tyrants, but they must understand we are the rulers, the creators of law. Once they gradually adapt to the Nolun Workshop’s ways, we can adjust later."

Everyone nodded, indicating they understood.

Next, based on their areas of expertise, the dozen wizards quickly divided the tasks.

Some were responsible for exploring the plane’s overall structure, others for drawing detailed maps, some for surveying population distribution, and others for detecting residual array and technique traces.

Jeming and David were responsible for investigating the conditions of the current core city.

Once assigned, everyone employed their means and dispersed.

Jeming and David then stepped into the city side by side.

The city was not small, accommodating approximately fifty thousand people.

On both sides of the street were stone-and-wood-structured houses, with the tallest buildings no more than three stories high.

The roads were paved with coarse stone slabs, and simple drainage ditches lined the sides.

The air was filled with a faint mixture of livestock manure and smoke—typical of agrarian civilizations.

As they walked, the two scanned everything around them with spiritual power.

"Speaking of which," Jeming suddenly spoke, "how are the others?"

David’s steps slightly faltered.

After a moment of silence, he sighed:

"Reks is dead."

Jeming frowned.

Reks... had collaborated with him on the Plane of Justice, an outwardly cold but warm-hearted person.

"How did it happen?"

"He went out scouting during the war," David said, "He was targeted by a Fifth Level Wizard from the Chaos Secret Sect, who used a sacrificial curse technique. He couldn’t hold on until rescue."

Jeming fell silent for a moment.

That smiling face surfaced in his mind.

"...Such a pity."

David nodded, continuing: "The rest are alright, but..."

He smiled wryly: "Like me, they were forced to advance to the Fifth Level for survival."

Jeming looked at him.

For most wizards, the Fifth Level was already quite an achievement, equivalent to the strength of the Nolun Workshop’s core wizards.

"Knowledge falling behind?" Jeming asked.

David’s wry smile deepened: "Indeed..."

"Haha, it’s okay, you’ll get used to it... just like me."

David sighed: "Physically and spiritually, I barely reached the Fifth Level’s standards, but my knowledge is still at the Fourth Level Wizard. I can’t use any witchcraft requiring profound understanding."

Jeming patted his shoulder, saying nothing.

They walked in silence for a while.

David suddenly spoke, the tone complicated:

"Speaking of which, you’ve made quite a name for yourself."

Jeming raised an eyebrow: "Hmm?"

"I’ve heard," David regarded him, "You at least took down four Sixth Level Wizards. Two of them were Titled Wizards... ’Hand of Obliteration’ and ’Illusion,’ right?"

Jeming was taken aback and then shook his head:

"Lucky me."

He meant it sincerely.

During ’Hand of Obliteration,’ he was definitely supposed to die, but neither of them expected he didn’t.

During ’Illusion,’ if Augusta hadn’t arrived in time to buy him that one second, he wouldn’t have ended well.

"It really was luck," Jeming reiterated.

David gazed at him, suddenly smiling:

"You know, you look particularly punchable right now."

Jeming was puzzled.

"Obviously strong beyond imagination, but seemingly unaware of it yourself." David shook his head, "On the battlefield, defeating four Sixth Levels, one of whom could clear a plane solo—’Illusion.’ And you call it luck?"

Jeming opened his mouth to explain but thought better of it, closing it again.

Forget it, it’s impossible to clarify.

David didn’t press further, just sighed:

"Never mind, people can’t be compared. Someone like me with Tenth Level Talent thought the ascent would be smooth, yet stuck at Fifth Level."

Jeming frowned: "You... calling Tenth Level Talent ’only’?"

David shook his head:

"Innate talent, the higher the level, the smaller the boost." He pointed at Jeming, "When rising from Fourth to Fifth Level, my talent was already useless. Do you know what this means?"

Jeming didn’t speak.

"It means the path ahead is solely through hard work." David said, "Knowledge, understanding, insight—talent doesn’t help. Even if I supplement my knowledge, I don’t think I can beat Sixth Level Wizards, let alone Titled Wizards."

Jeming fell silent.

He knew what David said was true.

On a wizard’s journey, the further one goes, the less talent matters, and the more wisdom does.

Tenth Level Talent only helps you move faster at low tier.

At the middle and high tiers, everyone stands on the same starting line.

"Take it slow." Jeming finally uttered these three words.

David smiled and did not pursue the topic further.

"Alright, let’s take separate actions." He pointed to the towering building in the distance.

It was a typical religious-style divine hall, its spire piercing the clouds, with intricate Chaos Secret Sect runes carved into its outer walls.

"I’ll head to the divine hall to talk with the city’s leadership. What about you?"

"I’ll check out the city’s array setup." Jeming replied.

The two nodded and parted ways.

Jeming rose to the city’s skies, overlooking the layout of the entire city from above.

Then, he began using spiritual power to sense the array patterns hidden deep within the buildings, roads, and beneath the earth.

Soon, his brow furrowed.

The Chaos Secret Sect’s array system set up in this city was quite comprehensive.

Additionally, its functions were very explicit.

Excitement Array.

Birthing Assistance Array.

Cognitive Modification Array.

The three combined, forming a complete "production line" targeting the population.

Jeming closed his eyes, expanding his sense to the surrounding cities.

Then expanding to the entire province.

The result was the same.

Everywhere were similar arrays.

He opened his eyes, a hint of complexity flashing through them.

It seemed the Chaos Secret Sect was the kind of power that only viewed wizards as "intelligent beings of the same civilization."

As for ordinary humans... in their eyes, they were no different from indigenous creatures of other planes, all resources, all tools.

Excitement Array ensured birth rates.

Birthing Assistance Array ensured newborns’ survival rates.

Cognitive Modification Array ensured the populace remained in awe and obedience.

Combined with ample material supplies and extraordinary level medical technology provided by the "divine hall," one could say the Chaos Secret Sect’s population production system operated very efficiently.

Jeming couldn’t help but recall the methods of Nolun Workshop.

The workshop actually also hoped the human groups under its flag would reproduce as much as possible.

After all, for those planes that haven’t achieved universal transcendence, the birth of wizards depends entirely on luck.

And even in planes with universal transcendence, whether a genius is born still depends on luck.

With a larger base, they could always mutate a few super geniuses.

But the workshop never used this method.

Instead, it was a carefully designed system of policies and environmental influence, circling a large loop to guide human groups to reproduce naturally.

For example, they clearly understood a biological common knowledge: when resources are overly abundant, the group’s willingness to reproduce would instead decrease.

Thus, the workshop cautiously adjusted the total amount of resources for each human group so that they "barely have enough," but "not too plentiful," to maintain moderate reproductive pressure.

It sounds like a rather strict control.

But compared to the Chaos Secret Sect’s direct use of excitement arrays to forcibly increase fertility, it seemed as gentle as a spring breeze.

From an effectiveness standpoint, the advantage of the Chaos Secret Sect’s method was rapid population growth, naturally leading to a higher absolute number of wizards.

But the quality...

Jeming recalled the war statistics.

The combined total number of wizards above the third level in Chaos Secret Sect and Tower of Silence was only fifty percent more than that of Nolun Workshop.

Setting aside the Tower of Annihilation, considering the population base of the Chaos Secret Sect was at least several times that of the workshop, this "fifty percent" seemed quite pathetic.

"Trading quantity for quality." Jeming muttered to himself, "Can’t say it’s wrong, but..."

He didn’t finish, but he had already reached a conclusion in his heart.

He took out the Magic Network Terminal, briefly describing what he had discovered, and sent it to all colleagues executing tasks on this plane.

Soon, responses started coming in.

Others’ investigation results were consistent with his.

The entire plane was adorned with such arrangements everywhere.

Finally, a dozen wizards discussed in the channel for a while and reached a consensus:

Since cities across the plane were built following this "fertility factory" model, they might as well be all demolished and rebuilt.

Jeming had originally planned to use his alchemy to mold a new city for the populace.

In his view, this was the simplest and most efficient way.

Given his current strength, it would only take a few minutes to raise a fully functional, reasonably laid out new city from the ground.

But David proposed a different opinion.

"Don’t rush." He said, "The process of rebuilding the city is itself a process of rebuilding their worldview."

Jeming was taken aback for a moment, then understood his meaning.

If directly using alchemy to mold a city, the populace would only passively accept.

They would feel "Saints indeed possess great powers," but wouldn’t understand why the city was built this way, nor would they change their mindset during this process.

But if they were made to do it themselves...

"Makes sense, let them tear down, and rebuild themselves." Jeming said in the communication channel, "We only provide guidance and necessary help. Let them see firsthand that a city can exist without divine halls, without those statues they worship; let them personally construct schools, hospitals, parliament halls; let them during this process slowly understand the value of ’humans.’

The channel was silent for a few seconds.

Then someone responded: "I think it’s good, agree."

Another person said: "But this way, the time would be prolonged."

"Originally, it was a decades-long task." Jeming said, "Not concerned about a few more years."

He looked down at the city beneath, built entirely for "reproduction," and suddenly had an idea.

Decades later, when the residents of this city personally construct their new homeland, they might look back and reminisce about the past.

Then, they would understand...

What is truly worth guarding.