Yet, Jie Ming had to admit that the deaths of Amy and Victor had left a scar in his heart that refused to heal.
Though the wound no longer bled, it still throbbed with quiet pain.
During experiments requiring extreme precision and focus, this lingering discomfort caused him to make frequent mistakes.
A sharp, acrid smell of charred matter filled the air. Another preliminarily modified Lava Giant test subject, due to a mere 0.01-milliliter error in the dosage of a gene catalyst, saw its energy cycle collapse instantly, combusting into a pile of worthless charcoal on the operating table.
After yet another test subject was ruined by his mistake, Jie Ming finally paused his work, letting out a helpless sigh.
He knew that in his current state, forcing himself to continue would only waste time and materials.
Stepping aside, he reopened the magic network terminal.
It wasn’t about earning points or meeting quotas.
He simply wanted to get out, change his environment, and see if it could lift his troubled mood.
The task list refreshed like a waterfall, brimming with diverse assignments.
Some involved exploring remote planes in the Elosia Cluster, others collecting rare materials, and some supporting academy construction.
Just then, an unusual task title caught Jie Ming’s eye.
[Tracking Mission: Eliminate an Illegal Wizard.]
[Mission Rank: Second Tier.]
[Access Restriction: Only official wizards of second tier or above may accept.]
Further details were locked behind permissions, accessible only after accepting the mission.
Jie Ming was intrigued by the term “Illegal Wizard.”
In the highly centralized and orderly society of the wizarding civilization, how could there be officially recognized “Illegal Wizards”?
From what he knew, aside from the contracts signed upon entering the wizarding civilization, all meditation artifacts were embedded with restrictions. Without proper contract authentication, they couldn’t even be activated.
Without an initial meditation artifact, entering a meditative state was impossible for ordinary people, let alone becoming a wizard.
How could “Illegal Wizards” exist under such stringent safeguards?
Driven by curiosity, Jie Ming didn’t hesitate long before accepting the mission.
Soon, as his authorization was verified, a flood of detailed mission information poured into his terminal.
The data included the tracked movements and activity patterns of this “Illegal Wizard.”
Attached was an assessment by the academy’s intelligence department, based on the damage caused: the target’s overall strength was estimated to be equivalent to an average second-tier wizard.
To ensure success, Noren Academy had designated this as a team mission.
It required at least two second-tier wizards to accept before it could officially begin.
Coincidentally, someone else had already accepted the mission before Jie Ming.
With his acceptance, the mission’s activation conditions were met.
Jie Ming glanced at the designated meeting point: the new Noren Academy branch under construction on the Elosia Main Plane.
The deadline for gathering was… three days from now.
“Such a short assembly time. The academy must take this Illegal Wizard seriously…” Jie Ming mused, rubbing his chin as he studied the information on the screen.
He made quick preparations, switching his laboratory to auto-maintenance mode and leaving several biochemically modified Lava Giant guards in the Infernal Sulfur plane. Then, he stepped onto the teleportation array within the lab.
With a faint ripple of spatial distortion, he arrived at the new Noren Academy branch on the Elosia Main Plane, its futuristic structure already taking shape. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
For missions , the magic network terminal automatically activated a tracking mode to record the wizard’s movements.
Jie Ming was certain that the moment he stepped onto the teleportation array, the other party had received a notification of his approach to the meeting point.
Arriving at the designated spot in a corner of the academy plaza, Jie Ming immediately spotted the person already waiting there.
Sensing an unfamiliar yet faintly recognizable soul aura, Jie Ming froze.
It was David, whom he had contacted not long ago!
Of course, David’s current appearance differed slightly from their time in the trials or when they signed their contract.
Back then, he had resembled a savage, bloodthirsty barbarian.
Now, while his wild aura had been somewhat restrained, no longer resembling a barbarian, his heavy black armor—adorned with menacing bone spikes and runes—hardly made him look like a traditional wizard.
Wizards typically channeled power by leveraging mental energy to manipulate external elemental forces.
Thus, attire was largely unrestricted—whether one went bare or wore a construct as massive as a city.
However, heavy armor was rare.
Not because it was ineffective—on the contrary, heavy armor allowed for more materials, offering stronger protection, more stable effects, and additional space for runic inscriptions.
For wizards who also trained in physical enhancement, heavy armor served as highly effective armor and weaponry in close combat.
The only drawback was… the cost!
Even at a glance, it was clear that heavy armor consumed far more materials than wands or masks.
A full set of heavy armor artifacts was two tiers more expensive than equivalent wizard gear.
So, it wasn’t just Jie Ming—other passing wizards couldn’t help but steal glances at David.
He stood like a silent steel fortress, exuding a cold, unapproachable aura.
Truthfully, if not for the familiar, earth-like solidity of his soul aura, Jie Ming might not have recognized this “iron juggernaut” as David.