Chapter 296: Chapter 265: 30 Years

Time passed like a fleeting horse, thirty years quietly slipping by in the battles across the planes.

The Aerial Plane is now completely imprinted with the mark of the Wizard Civilization.

However, the anticipated resource depletion has not arrived. Instead, the wave of development has not subsided, presenting an anomalous, almost boiling prosperity.

Thanks to the nearly limitless richness of Wind Elements, this plane exhibits various incredible characteristics.

In the boundless space, gravity’s constraints have been lost, making everything float, adding a dimension to the explorative area of the entire plane.

What’s more astonishing is that those ubiquitous, scar-like regions of space distortion are constantly nurturing new small spaces within them.

Each newly formed small space resembles an independent ecological bubble.

Containing unique resource spectrums and strange biological communities, as if they are treasure chests randomly scattered in the universe.

It is this almost “renewable” peculiar phenomenon that has allowed the wizards, despite thirty years of frenzied exploitation, to remain unable to uncover the full extent of this plane.

The Floating City of the Wizard Camp is no longer what it used to be.

It has expanded several times over, like a giant beast of metal entrenched in the void.

And at the very top of the Floating City, the atmosphere is undergoing intense distortion, forming a massive, slowly rotating energy vortex, emitting unsettling space fluctuations—the World Transmission Array, about to connect!

This project was supposed to be completed in more than a decade, but with the personal intervention of the Seventh Level Wizard Dionysius Spencer, the schedule was forcibly advanced.

Such urgency is due to the “abundance” of this plane exceeding expectations; the piled-up harvest has nearly overwhelmed the frontline base.

The Central Square, expanded an unknown number of times, is more like a chaotic and huge material distribution center at this moment.

Creatures of various forms, some curled up docilely, others aggressively ramming their cages.

Piles of colorful ores with varying energy reactions stand like mountains, along with some indescribable rare resources that emit peculiar lights or fluctuations.

At the edge of the square, thick metal chains extend outward, tying more giant iron cages suspended among the clouds outside the city, filled with live creatures.

Even beyond the plane rift, one can see across to the ground of the Ship Plane, where the cages are piled like newborn mountains, stretching endlessly.

To sustain the vitality of these precious living samples, millions of Mechanical Dolls daily shuttle like worker ants between temporarily maintained Space Gates, carrying precious Spatial Witchcraft from the rear base to deliver massive amounts of nutrients, conducting possibly the most extravagant “feeding” work in this world.

The early activation of the World Transmission Array, like opening a floodgate for a clogged river, efficiently transports resources back to the core of the Wizard Civilization, slightly relieving the storage pressure on the frontline.

The wizards, meanwhile, are plunged into even more frenzied busyness.

Every wizard is like a machine wound up, desperately chasing merit and resources.

In this plane without Sixth Level Creatures, the native forces cannot organize effective resistance, helplessly allowing these “Outer Heaven Demons” to continue their relentless plundering like wolves and tigers.

On this day, a streak of light passed through the thin cloud layer, approaching the Floating City.

It was Jeming.

Behind him trailed a string of giant cages linked by thick chains, filled with strange creatures captured in the latest exploration: some shaped like floating jellyfish with metallic luster, others resembling bird-like creatures made of pure energy, whose cries caused subtle spatial ripples.

Thanks to the weightless environment of the Aerial Plane, he could rudely drag back this massive haul at once.

Handing over this long string of “trophies” to the Alchemy Puppets that came to meet him, Jeming didn’t even bother to slowly find buyers at the market.

He left enough research samples sent to his long-term rented warehouse, while the rest were directly sold to the camp authorities via the Magic Net Terminal, at a slightly lower market price but with astonishing speed.

It’s undeniable that Lord Dionysius Spencer’s strategy is indeed profound.

This official buy-back mechanism, while not offering much profit, greatly enhances the operational efficiency of the wizards.

Allowing them to quickly invest in the next round of plundering tasks, creating an efficient closed loop.

Walking slowly on the now crowded streets of the Floating City, Jeming observed everything around him silently.

The noise filled his ears, wizards of various forms rushed about, energy fluctuations intertwined.

Before the bulletin board, wizards constantly took tasks and loudly recruited temporary teammates on the spot.

After simple negotiations, they signed Soul Contracts, forming teams that turned into streaks of light darting out of the Protective Shield of the Floating City, disappearing into the colorful depths of the plane.

The effects of thirty years of unrestrained plunder were evident.

The wizard civilization’s terrifying ability to consume and transform resources, comparable to that of the Insect Race, was displayed to the fullest at this moment.

Jeming vividly remembered that at the beginning of the expedition, over 98% of the team were First and Second Level Wizards, with Third Level Wizards being a rarity.

Now, walking the streets, the presence of Third Level Wizards could be felt almost everywhere. A rough sense of it suggested their proportion probably approached a third of the total!

At this point, Jeming somewhat understood why the Wizard Civilization divided the training of wizards into Logistics and Combat Elements.

Logistics Element is stronger but requires higher aptitude, achieving promotions relatively smoothly… or one could say slowly.

Whereas the Combat Element may not be as strong at the same level as the Logistics Element, its unique training method gives it a sufficiently strong ability to consume and absorb resources. Once there are enough resources, it can quickly gain immediate combat power.

One could say the Logistics Element indeed serves as an elite unit, but the Combat Element is by no means mere cannon fodder.

Of course, behind the glory is the harsh elimination.

During these thirty years, more than ten percent of the wizards fell on this Exotic Realm for various reasons—space traps, ferocious creatures, even betrayal by companions—never to return.

Although most of these newly promoted Third Level Wizards lacked knowledge accumulation and couldn’t fully wield the power their levels warranted.

Yet, the sheer size and number of new arrivals caused the overall strength of the Expeditionary Army to rise rather than decline.

Amidst this bustling, lively, and greedy scene, a lingering perplexity filled Jeming’s heart.

This way of plundering, leaving nothing behind, causes fundamental harm to this Aerial Plane.

Without exaggeration, even if after the war Dionysius Spencer intended to reintroduce the acquired creatures, this plane’s ecology would be hard to revive in a few hundred or thousand years.

For the Wizard Civilization, accustomed to “sustainable depletion,” such short-sighted and wasteful actions seemed extraordinarily abrupt and wasteful.

“The only explanation…” Jeming directed his gaze towards the increasingly distinct vortex of the World Transmission Array at the top of the Floating City, pondering in his heart, “Lord Spencer’s true target in this expedition holds value far beyond a single plane.”

Reflecting on that intriguing phrase “appetizers before dinner,” Jeming understood its implication.

Yet he still couldn’t imagine what kind of entity or thing might surpass the long-term benefit of an entire prosperous plane?

“Even if there’s another more valuable plane, it makes no sense to completely abandon this initially controlled plane… unless, that ’target’ is not another plane, but rather something… that, once obtained, makes these ’ordinary’ resources no longer matter?” Jeming’s thoughts surged, but he quickly suppressed them.

He knew well that the plans and visions of a Seventh Level Wizard were beyond what he could comprehend and question.

Random speculation was unhelpful.

After wandering around the temporary stalls in the square for a few laps, purchasing several rare crystal minerals with peculiar energy structures and biological samples suspected of having special abilities, Jeming returned to his temporary residence for a day’s brief rest, sorting through recent gains and insights.

Subsequently, he reopened the Magic Net Terminal and adeptly filtered the task list.

Soon, a task titled “Explore the Anomalous Energy Reaction Source in the Newly Discovered Large Space Wrinkle ’Eye of the Storm’” caught his attention.

The mission’s risk rating was high, but the merit reward was also very generous, with hints of potentially unrecorded rare species or peculiar rule phenomena.

Without much hesitation, Jeming took on the task.

A moment later, a stream of light shot out from the Floating City again, unhesitatingly plunging into the vast expanse of the plane.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep