Translator: AnubisTL
"You're back already?" Jieming looked Viola up and down. She still carried the faint, lingering energy residue unique to long-distance spatial teleportation.
"It's only been a few months. Is the war on that plane... already over?"
The atmosphere in Mentor Clark's office, cluttered with books, instruments, and unfinished alchemical constructs, felt somewhat strained.
Jieming couldn't hide his surprise as he looked at his senior sister, who had returned with the dejected air of someone whose mission had just ended.
Viola slumped unceremoniously into a plush armchair, rubbing her temples. Her voice was tinged with weariness. "War? Strictly speaking, there was no war at all. The eighth-tier wizards at the command center struck a deal directly with the artificial intelligence called 'Justice.' Now, it—along with the vast plane it controls and all its inhabitants—has been formally annexed into our wizard civilization."
Jieming froze for a moment, then nodded in understanding.
This is the outcome that maximizes our interests, he thought.
That plane contained tens of billions of well-educated, intellectually active humans. Combined with a super-managing AI like "Justice," it was a ready-made reservoir of high-quality soldiers and talent.
All that would be needed next is to invest in racial adaptation technology to assimilate those humans into the standard humans of the wizard world. This would secure a precious plane capable of continuously producing a vast number of wizard apprentices—a far more cost-effective option than forcibly destroying it or leaving it alone.
As for Justice, the artificial intelligence, it didn't matter which faction it served, as long as it could fulfill its "mission."
"That's incredibly efficient," Jieming said, his interest piqued. "How exactly did they do it? How did the eighth-tier wizards persuade... or rather, 'persuade' Justice?"
Viola shrugged, seemingly bored by the anticlimactic nature of the process. "Nothing thrilling. An eighth-tier wizard skilled in information intrusion and logical games simply broke through the planar barrier, located Justice's core interface, and conducted a 'cost-benefit analysis' with it regarding civilizational survival, developmental efficiency, and resisting potentially more powerful external threats in the future."
"It was confirmed that Justice's core programming contained a highest-priority directive to ensure the survival of the species under its jurisdiction. Once it determined that joining the wizard civilization was the optimal choice, it readily agreed to the surrender protocol."
Jieming listened thoughtfully, but a crucial question surfaced in his mind. "Wait, if an eighth-tier wizard enters that plane, won't they be affected by Justice's 'Hope' and its power suppression?"
Hearing this, Viola shot Jieming a look that said, I knew you'd ask that.
She carried the almost instinctive pride of a high-level wizard. "It seems you still lack a direct understanding of the power levels of high-rank wizards. To put it simply, in the known Endless Chaotic Void, as long as there are no ninth-tier creatures, an eighth-tier wizard is invincible."
Jieming frowned, still skeptical. "I understand how powerful an eighth-tier wizard is, but Justice is, after all, a creation of that Sage."
Though the Sage had rarely appeared, Jieming was virtually certain that the being who created Justice was a ninth-tier creature.
Justice exhibited two primary abilities. Suppressing transcendent power was one thing—there were many ways to achieve that.
The key lay in its use of 'Hope.' To achieve such an effect, it had to distort the laws themselves.
What was meant by distorting the laws was the direct "modification" of the world's power within a limited area.
This power represented the essence of the ninth tier. Wizards no longer referred to such power as a Law, but instead called it "authority."
Even if it were not actively wielded by a ninth-tier being—making it rigid, passive, and limited in power level—it was still, theoretically, not something an eighth-tier wizard could easily contend with.
Hearing Jieming's analysis, Viola smiled. Instead of answering directly, she turned to Mentor Clark, who had been silently observing. "Mentor, what do you think? It seems this boy is overthinking things."
Mentor Clark set down the miniature gravitational singularity generator he had been calibrating. After a moment's reflection, he looked at Jieming. "Your observation and reasoning are very keen. You've touched upon the very essence of power."
"This matter itself isn't the most core secret, but for strategic reasons, it's usually not explained in detail to low- and mid-tier wizards. However, given the potential you've shown and the Second-tier Cultivation Clearance you've obtained, there's no harm in you knowing this ahead of time."
He paused, his tone becoming exceptionally grave. "Jieming, remember: in the Endless Chaotic Void that wizards have explored, as long as there is no direct intervention from a ninth-tier creature, an eighth-tier wizard can indeed be considered invincible."
Jieming held his breath.
Clark continued his explanation. "The most awe-inspiring abilities of a ninth-tier creature are primarily two: first, the ability to distort laws within a limited range—what most wizards call 'authority'; second, theoretically near-infinite power."
"But these two abilities are not impossible to counter."
"First, regarding law distortion. The 'solidification' of an eighth-tier wizard's laws is not merely about stabilizing the laws they have comprehended. More importantly, it solidifies the very foundation of the laws upon which their own existence depends."
"This allows an eighth-tier wizard to maintain their form, power, and cognition without being directly altered or erased when a ninth-tier creature modifies the world—like a reef in a raging torrent... This is the prerequisite for being able to confront them."
Viola added from the side, her tone turning more serious. "This is one of the greatest trump cards that has allowed our wizard civilization to stand firm in the multiverse and even continuously expand. It must never be leaked."
Jieming seemed to understand something, yet he still had doubts. "I see. Through law solidification, an eighth-tier wizard can resist 'modification,' preventing them from being instantly erased or distorted by a ninth-tier creature at first glance."
"But this only guarantees survival," Jieming countered. "How can we win, or even force them to negotiate? After all, their power is theoretically infinite."
Ever since he became a wizard, Jieming had been taught that an eighth-tier wizard could never defeat a ninth-tier creature.
Clark nodded, taking over the conversation. "That's the crux of the matter, and also the common misconception. What you've learned—that an eighth-tier wizard cannot defeat a ninth-tier one—is strictly speaking correct, but it ignores a crucial premise: that refers to a single eighth-tier individual."
"Ordinary top-tier civilizations, even those with multiple eighth-tier powerhouses, often crumble before the authority of a ninth-tier creature because they cannot resist such fundamental, root-level alterations. But we wizards can."
"When multiple eighth-tier wizards use a specific combined wizard formation and Knowledge Resonance to overlap and resonate their individual Law Solidification Domains, they can create an Absolute Domain powerful enough to briefly resist or even locally neutralize the law-distorting effects of a ninth-tier creature."
"What's left is to face the 'infinite' power of the ninth-tier," Clark said, his tone unexpectedly lightening. "It sounds terrifying, but the principle for countering it is surprisingly 'simple'..."
"We just need to overpower them with a momentary burst of output power."
Jieming's expression darkened. "Momentary output power... Overpower a being with infinite strength? Is that... is that even possible?"
"Of course it is," Clark said with certainty. "You have to look at so-called 'infinite power' in two parts: output and reserve. Infinite energy doesn't mean their instantaneous output power has no upper limit. Every being—their energy output channels, their soul's capacity, their thought processing speed—all dictate a limit to the energy they can mobilize and release in a single instant. Of course, when combined with their authority, this limit is theoretically raised to an infinite height, but reaching true infinity requires casting time."
"When eighth-tier wizards face a ninth-tier creature, our strategy is to gather enough companions and use sophisticated combined casting techniques to leverage energy. In an instant, we stack and amplify our burst output, even boosting it to a level that... for that one moment, can surpass the opponent's cognitive processing limit."
Viola added with a proud smile, "Does that sound difficult? But for us wizards, who have been studying how to use knowledge to maximize elemental multipliers since our apprentice days, this is actually our specialty."
"According to internal civilization statistics, usually only three to ten well-coordinated eighth-tier wizards are enough to instantaneously suppress most known ninth-tier creatures, forcing them to retreat, negotiate, or even... fall."
Jieming was utterly stunned, his eyes widening in shock.
In an instant, many things that had previously seemed vague to him suddenly clicked into place.
"So you're saying... the wizard power system, from its most basic education, has been deliberately shaped toward... 'how to fight the few with the many, and challenge higher-tier individuals'? What we've been studying all along isn't the ultimate sublimation of the individual, but how to use knowledge and coordination to form a 'swarm' capable of slaying a ninth-tier being?!"
Connecting this to the long-standing rumors—those nine elusive ninth-tier wizards, who always led armies composed primarily of eighth-tier wizards, continuously expanding and conquering on the unknown frontlines...
A startling realization struck Jieming like a bolt of lightning. He blurted out, "So! It's not that the entire wizard civilization has an infinite desire for expansion! But... those nine ninth-tier wizards, they need more eighth-tier wizards as 'soldiers' to conquer lands for them and face the enemies or challenges at their level?!"
Hearing this, Viola and Mentor Clark exchanged a glance, their faces breaking into identical, meaningful smiles—neither confirming nor denying.
Seeing the knowing expressions of the two high-rank wizards, Jieming knew his hypothesis was likely close to the truth.
(End of the Chapter)
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