The series of test results for the “Prowler” left Jie Ming deeply satisfied.
This living missile, designed for extreme speed and one-time destruction, perfectly filled the gap in his aerial assault and rapid-strike capabilities.
Next, as per his plan, he turned his attention to another area in dire need of development—cannon fodder units for naval warfare.
However, compared to the relatively smooth development of aerial units, the design and creation of naval cannon fodder proved exceptionally arduous.
In the end, it consumed a full fifty years of Jie Ming’s time to finally produce the completed version.
At this moment, within a massive ecological cultivation tank specially built in the laboratory, a colossal entity sprawled, slowly writhing, nearly filling the entire room.
Its body was a deep, inky black, its texture resembling viscous crude oil.
It looked like some enormous slime, lacking a fixed form, merely undulating and flowing unconsciously.
Holding a high-precision biological scanner in one hand and activating his All-Purpose Eye with the other, Jie Ming conducted a final scan of the behemoth’s metrics.
The data streams flickering on the screen were stable and robust, and the parameters detected by the All-Purpose Eye met or even exceeded his design expectations.He slowly lowered the device, deactivated his sorcery, and let out a long breath, his face revealing a complex expression of relief mingled with a sense of accomplishment.
“Finally… it’s complete.”
In truth, the initial concept for developing naval cannon fodder hadn’t been particularly difficult.
The problem was that, after methodically completing the Prowler, Jie Ming’s relentless pursuit of perfection and extremity as a researcher stirred restlessly within him.
A flood of wild ideas and additional functions emerged, causing the design goals to be revised time and again.
What was ultimately born had long transcended the concept of mere “cannon fodder,” evolving into the monstrous creation before him.
Strictly speaking, this thing could no longer be called a single cannon fodder unit.
It was a comprehensive oceanic combat platform, integrating survival, defense, attack, and production!
Its base form was this seemingly clumsy, black slime-like body.
Its combat style was flexible and eerie, capable of detaching parts of its body to mimic various aquatic creatures for attack or harassment.
When facing powerful enemies, it could rapidly reassemble its dispersed parts, swelling dramatically in size.
It could transform into a mountain-like giant, unleashing devastating physical crushing attacks or energy blasts.
Beyond pure physical attacks, its offensive and defensive methods were relatively straightforward, relying primarily on an internal energy core to fire energy cannons of various attributes and to sustain a robust energy shield.
But the truly terrifying aspects of this creation, which Jie Ming had tirelessly refined, lay in two key features.
First was its extraordinarily exaggerated resource conversion and energy absorption efficiency.
The material scarcity of the void plane had forced its creatures to evolve extreme survival capabilities in barren environments.
Jie Ming had integrated the decomposition abilities of several representative species, enabling this “slime” to maximally digest any organic matter it encountered.
Be it algae, fish, or even the corpses of enemy units, it could efficiently convert them into nutrient-rich bio-gel within its body, used for sustenance, growth, or as “ammunition” reserves.
Additionally, it inherited the energy absorption system of the Black Giants, continuously drawing heat energy from its surroundings to convert into its own power.
Its deep black hue was the outward manifestation of its ability to efficiently absorb energy across all wavelengths.
The second feature, and the one Jie Ming was most proud of, was its built-in biological incubation platform.
Inspired by the incubation pools of the Lava Giants, its body had been modified to house a miniature, highly efficient incubation chamber.
It could channel the energy and bio-gel it collected into this chamber, serving as a rapid frontline incubation nest for Prowlers!
This meant that on the oceanic battlefield, the “Nest” itself was a mobile production base for living missiles.
It could endlessly produce Prowlers for both aerial support and underwater attacks.
Though Prowlers were significantly slower underwater, their combat effectiveness remained formidable.
Even more ingenious was that, in emergencies, this incubation platform could double as a “first-aid station,” providing urgent energy to the cores of self-detonated Black Giants, accelerating their bodily reconstruction!
Jie Ming’s mind still brimmed with even more fantastical ideas—integrating reconnaissance units, adding spatial leap capabilities, and so on.
Unfortunately, limited by the creature’s internal space and his own knowledge, he could only reluctantly settle for this “half-finished” product.
“Let’s call this thing… the ‘Nest’!” Jie Ming casually named it.
He instructed the laboratory’s automated puppets to begin feeding the newborn Nest large quantities of basic biomass and pure energy to support its initial growth and stabilization.
After completing this, Jie Ming sank back into his familiar work chair, leaning back and, for the first time in a while, allowing himself to zone out, his thoughts drifting aimlessly.
He was acutely aware that, at this stage, he had reached the limit of qualitative leaps in his personal combat strength and legion composition, given his current resources and knowledge.
The Black Giant Legion, the Prowler air force, and now the Nest navy formed the preliminary framework of a land-sea-air cannon fodder system.
His magical treasures, talisman artifacts, and various sorceries had also been updated.
What remained was merely accumulating numbers over time and refining minor details.
This meant that, for at least the next fifty years, despite the vast amount of study, experimentation, and research still ahead, his overall combat strength would not see revolutionary breakthroughs.
For a moment, he felt a sense of aimlessness, his mind instinctively mulling over various tactical combinations, legion compositions, and fine-tuning his personal combat style.
After an unknown amount of time, a deep wave of fatigue washed over him.
Jie Ming didn’t resist, allowing himself to sink into a rare, pure sleep, free from meditation or conscious thought.
Rest, at times, was also a form of cultivation.
When the dim “sun” of the Elosia plane rose as usual the next day, Jie Ming had regained his customary calm and focus, diving back into his regular research routine.
Over the next fifty years, Jie Ming methodically began stepping down from his various duties at Noren Academy No. 147.
He discussed his situation with Dean Avery Knight, explaining that an impending mandatory expedition required him to prepare and hand over his responsibilities.
The dean expressed understanding.
Soon, a wizard from the Alchemy Logistics Department, recently rotated back from another plane’s battlefield, was assigned to take over Jie Ming’s duties.
The handover process was remarkably simple—after all, the Alchemy Department still had no new apprentices.
The primary tasks involved routine inspections and maintenance of life-saving tools and monitoring systems for the academy’s quinquennial graduation trials, as well as occasionally crafting low-tier artifacts or potions for other students.
For another experienced alchemist wizard, these administrative tasks were effortless.
Thus, while maintaining his cultivation and research, Jie Ming smoothly completed the handover and quietly passed the final fifty years before the mandatory expedition.
When the deadline finally arrived, Jie Ming stepped through a cross-plane teleportation array, arriving once more at the familiar yet alien rallying point of the Wizard Civilization’s Expeditionary Forces.
This time, his luck seemed favorable.
Just after completing his registration, he happened upon a massive expeditionary force in the process of assembling.
After signing up, he flew directly to the designated rally square.
However, when he beheld the scene at the square, even with Jie Ming’s composure, he couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath.
As far as the eye could see, the vast square was filled with a dense throng of wizard figures!
Robes of every color, bizarre magical accessories, contracted magical beasts of all shapes and sizes, and war constructs hovering in the air formed an endless sea of people and glowing energy.
Jie Ming roughly scanned the area with his mental energy, his heart reeling—the number of wizards gathered here likely exceeded a million!
The figure was staggering!
Typically, a medium-scale planar expedition mobilized around ten thousand wizards.
Even for tough, high-stakes planes requiring heavy assaults, the scale rarely surpassed two or three hundred thousand.
But this scene of a million wizards gathered… Jie Ming’s heart sank.
This was no ordinary expedition. Noren Workshop’s ambitions must be immense, and the battle ahead was likely to be unimaginably grueling.
Silently, he found a relatively less crowded corner at the edge of the square and settled down, quietly perking his ears to catch snippets of conversation from the surrounding wizards, hoping to gather some intelligence.
“…This is way too big, isn’t it? I’ve been through five expeditions, and I’ve never seen this many people!”
“It can only mean the target plane is something special, but so far, no news has leaked.”
“With such a tough enemy, the military merits and resources should be pretty rich, right?”
“…Before that, you’d better focus on whether you’ll survive.”
However, the surrounding wizards seemed as clueless as he was about the specifics.
Yet the heavy, faintly frenzied atmosphere in the air conveyed a clear consensus: an expedition mobilizing such a massive force from the Wizard Civilization was bound to be an unprecedentedly brutal battle!
To increase their chances of survival in the looming war, temporary recruitment points had spontaneously formed across the square.
Many wizards loudly announced their areas of expertise and weaknesses, seeking complementary partners to form temporary combat contracts and small teams to face the unknown dangers together.