Cultivating in the Wizard World

Chapter 684: Chapter 583: Evolution and Moonlight

Jeming stood in front of the Incubation Pool, staring at the "embryos" of Black Giants being nurtured within, his brow slightly furrowed.

Half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.

The breakthrough in Alchemy signified that Jeming had reached a certain standard in biological knowledge.

With this, he began to prepare various research projects that he had set aside due to insufficient knowledge before.

Such as the modification of cannon fodder units...

The most important of these was the study of the only Seventh Level Black Giant, the Black Giant Leader, Melt Mountain.

After all, it was the most powerful individual under his command, making it of the highest research value.

However, Jeming did not rashly begin research on Melt Mountain; instead, he intended to start from the low-level and work his way up.

After all, the birth of Black Giants had been nearly a millennium ago.

During such a long period of natural evolution, the Black Giant population had undergone some subtle mutations, and he needed to understand these changes to lay the foundation for his subsequent research on Melt Mountain.

First, grasp the basics, then tackle the profound.

Over the past half month, he examined hundreds of Black Giants of various levels, from Third to Sixth Level, recording each in detail.

Torso structure, energy circuits, core layout, soul fluctuations...

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

Jeming found that the core of the Black Giants had not undergone any changes.

The energy core he initially designed, based on the "Five Viscera Sacrificial God Skill" and the talents of Elemental Creatures, had remained almost unchanged for nearly a thousand years.

Each Black Giant’s core adhered closely to the template he originally set, being quite precise and stable.

But this was expected, as, without stability, the Black Giant species would not even have the potential to become a natural species.

Moreover, a millennium is not long for biological evolution, so the core part indeed wouldn’t change much.

However... their bodies had changed.

Jeming brought up two sets of records.

One was the standard template of a Black Giant from nine hundred years ago, and the other was the actual data of a Third Level Black Giant just inspected.

"Shoulder outward expansion by three degrees..."

"Increase in metal density constituting the torso by seven percent..."

"Reduction in metal cuticle thickness of skin, but increased toughness..."

"Optimization in energy conduction pathways, efficiency increased by twelve percent..."

Jeming compared each item, the light in his eyes growing brighter.

These changes were not of his design.

They were mutations that the Black Giant race had naturally undergone to adapt to their environment over nearly a millennium.

This environment did not exclusively refer to the Purgatory Sulfur Plane; although it had some influence, more importantly, it was the high-intensity adaptation needed for the surviving veterans on the Plane Battlefield.

Each change was tiny, but accumulated, they were enough to raise the overall quality of the entire race a notch.

Individually, these changes looked quite inconspicuous, even a bit too weak.

After all, each Black Giant was born with a Body Refining Technique and could naturally undergo some Adaptive Evolution.

But this was the evolution of the group!

Even newly born Black Giants exhibited this change.

Therefore, the more critical change was—the Incubation Pool had changed too.

Jeming turned and walked towards the control core of the Incubation Pool, probing it with his Spiritual Power to begin reading the data.

The Incubation Pool he initially designed was based on the Incubation Pool of the Magma Giant race, transformed into a standard "production line."

Input energy and materials, output standardized Black Giant individuals.

Every individual was supposed to be manufactured strictly according to the template, identical, without any differences.

But now, the core runes of the Incubation Pool exhibited subtle changes.

These changes were not man-made; instead, they were subtly influenced by the Incense Fire Divine Dao over its long-term operation.

"This is the Incense Fire Divine Dao..."

Jeming couldn’t help but click his tongue in admiration.

He suddenly recalled the records in the Great Dao Book Pavilion’s ancient books.

In the Cultivation Immortality World, those Incense Fire Divine Daos that had operated for millions of years had subordinates whose residents, from birth, had astonishing talents.

Some were born with the lifespan and strength at the Golden Core Realm level, and their aptitudes allowed them to easily cultivate to the Divinity Transformation Realm.

That wasn’t innate but was "nurtured" by the Incense Fire Divine Dao.

The Incense Fire Divine Dao connected with every believer, sensing their states and gathering their information.

When a believer produced a beneficial mutation, the Incense Fire Divine Dao automatically captured this mutation and then replicated it through the faith network to the entire group.

Generation by generation, accumulating and optimizing, eventually allowing the entire group to acquire those "beneficial mutations."

Ultimately achieving the feat of everyone being like dragons.

"So that means..."

Jeming looked at those Black Giant embryos still being nurtured, a sly smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"As long as they’ve been through enough battlefields and enough time has passed, they’ll naturally become stronger."

He withdrew his Spiritual Power and wrote in his notebook:

[Black Giant Race Evolution Observation Log]

[Conclusion: The Incense Fire Divine Dao possesses a "group enhancement" function. Beneficial mutations will be automatically captured and replicated. In the long-term operation, the overall quality of the group will continuously improve.]

[Suggestion: No need for manual intervention, regular observation and recording will suffice.]

Closing the notebook, Jeming was preparing to continue with the next research when the Magic Network Terminal suddenly vibrated.

[Alfred: Lord Jeming, the "Moon" modification has been completed, please accept.]

Jeming’s eyes lit up.

He put away the notebook and strode out of the Incubation Pool, flying towards the Elemental Pool.

In mid-air, he looked up at the sky.

At this moment, it was daytime on the Purgatory Sulfur Plane.

On the gray-red sky, where two light spheres once hung, only one remained now.

The projection from the Fire Elemental Plane was still bright, while the projection of the Seventh Level Large Elemental Pool had vanished without a trace.

"Well hidden."

Jeming nodded, continuing forward.

Flying to the Elemental Pool, the head of the construction team, Alfred, was already waiting there.

He was a Sixth Level Array Master with grey hair and beard, followed by dozens of team members.

"Lord Jeming." Alfred approached, "According to your request, the Arrays have all been remodeled. Nocturnal activity, spectrum adjustment, all tests passed."

Jeming landed in front of him, looking up at the enormous Elemental Pool.

From the outside, it appeared unchanged.

But Jeming’s All-Purpose Eye could see an additional layer of complex rune structures on the Protective Array surrounding the Elemental Pool.

"You’ll see it tonight," Alfred said with a smile, "Why not go back and rest first, and come to inspect it at nightfall?"

"Good!"

Jeming nodded his head.

A few hours later, night fell.

Jeming stood outside the laboratory, looking up at the sky.

The projection of the Fire Elemental Plane had already dipped below the horizon.

He had intentionally adjusted the plane’s rotation cycle to make the night longer.

In the sky, a patch of cool moonlight was slowly emerging.

The light was entirely different from the daytime.

Unlike the projection of the Fire Element, which was blazing and bright, this light was gentle, cool, with a faint silver-blue tinge.

It hung in the center of the sky, surrounded by the gray-red night sky, creating a peculiar beauty.

Jeming squinted, and the All-Purpose Eye activated.

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

He had specifically requested Alfred to simulate the frequency bands of the Water Elemental Plane projection, and now those bands indeed matched the projection of the Water Element exactly.

Although it had no practical effect, it looked more like the "moon" he conceptualized.

A commotion arose from the distance.

Jeming turned his head to look in the direction of the Black Giant community.

Those black silhouettes were stepping out of their houses, looking up at the moon in the sky, whispering and pointing.

Although Jeming had notified them of the appearance of a "moon," seeing it with their own eyes, these beings who had never seen the moon before could not hide their amazement.

Jeming smiled and turned to walk towards an Array beside the laboratory.

It was the "Moonlight Collection Array" he had set up in advance.

With a diameter of one hundred meters, composed of three hundred sixty small rune columns, a fist-sized crystal core sat at its center.

The entire Array was dedicated to collecting Moonlight Power, the first step in the Elixir of Eternal Flow manufacturing process.

Jeming walked to the center of the Array, sitting cross-legged.

Spiritual Power poured into it, and the Array lit up instantly.

All three hundred sixty rune columns glowed simultaneously, their lights interweaving to form a beam of light that shot skyward, pointing towards the moon.

As the beam passed, the Spiritual Qi in the air began to stir, seemingly pulled by something.

Jeming closed his eyes, sensing the operation of the Array.

He could "see" countless tiny points of light drifting down from the direction of the moon.

Those light points were extremely sparse, almost undetectable, but under the Array’s guidance, they began to gather at the center.

One hour.

Two hours.

Three...

The moon slowly traversed the sky, and the east started to brighten with the first light of dawn.

As the moon was about to dip below the horizon, Jeming opened his eyes.

He raised his right hand, and the crystal core at the center of the Array slowly floated up and landed in his palm.

Inside the core, a faint silver glow was flowing.

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

"This is Moonlight Power..."

Jeming sensed it, frowning slightly.

Too little.

The entire night’s harvest contained energy equivalent to that of a First Level Witchcraft.

This amount was too little, and compared to the Moonlight Power recorded in the Great Dao Book Pavilion, its purity was much lacking, with a lot of Spiritual Qi not fully transformed.

At least for now, the Moonlight Power couldn’t be used to refine the Elixir of Eternal Flow.

Jeming quickly understood the reason.

The Moonlight Power is essentially a product of "concept." The stronger the concept, the more abundant the harvest.

The Black Giant community saw the moon for the first time tonight; the concept had just begun to establish, naturally thin.

Once they got used to the moon’s existence, and after they had lived under the moonlight for decades or centuries, that concept would grow stronger, and so would the harvest.

Moreover, he had only set up a small collection array next to the laboratory.

In the future, when the entire Purgatory Sulfur Plane is covered with collection arrays, encompassing all Black Giant communities, efficiency could be increased ten thousand times at least.

"Fortunately, it’s confirmed that Moonlight can be produced."

Jeming stored away the Moonlight Power and turned to walk towards Alfred and his team.

"Inspection passed."

He lifted his hand to make a transaction.

[Final Payment Successful: 5 Million Low Level Military Merits]

Alfred saw the numbers on the account and his face blossomed with a smile.

"Lord Jeming, truly generous! If there’s any other need in the future, feel free to find us anytime!"

Jeming nodded, bidding farewell to the construction team.

Returning to the laboratory, he took out the Moonlight Power, holding it in his palm to examine.

The silver light flowed gently, like a drop of living mercury.

This amount wouldn’t be sufficient to refine the Elixir of Eternal Flow.

But it should be enough for some other tests.