Chapter 477: Chapter 412: The Plan
The start of the fourth cycle was perfect.
With Jeming providing near-"prophetic" intelligence, the first encounter battle concluded within an hour.
The Wizard Legion annihilated the Skull tribe’s carefully arranged counterattack army with minimal cost, and even destroyed three critical Earth Vein teleportation nodes of the enemy.
Jeming stayed in the safe area designated by Commander Frost throughout the process.
He didn’t participate in direct combat but submerged his Spiritual Power into the Inner Grotto Heaven, swiftly browsing the extensive records left by "himself" in the previous cycle.
The timeline of war progression, the deployment patterns of the Skull tribe’s main forces, methods to counter new tactics, the characteristics and weaknesses of various variants...
And more importantly, the preliminary research report summary on "Time Ripples" and the synchrony of abnormal growth.
A massive amount of information flooded into his consciousness, yet Jeming orderly and systematically organized and digested it with his powerful Spiritual Power.
When the command to end the battle spread across the army, Jeming already had a clear understanding of the entire war from the previous two months of the cycle.
He went directly to Frost, unhesitatingly handing over all the Record Crystals representing all the crucial intelligence and research achievements of the last cycle within his Inner Grotto Heaven.
A large number of Record Crystals piled up into a small mountain within the command headquarters.
The Seventh Level Wizard’s speed in processing information was astonishing.
Frost didn’t read each meticulously, instead using Spiritual Power for high-speed scanning and critical information extraction.
As Runes flickered, the contents of the thousands upon thousands of crystals streamed through his consciousness like flowing light.
In just a quarter of an hour, that mountain of crystals had been swiftly "browsed" by him.
"...Issue orders: all combat units adjust deployment according to ’Intelligence Packages 1-7 to 1-12’, elevate the priority of the research sequence tasks to ’war level’." Frost first issued clear instructions via the Magic Net.
But he did not let Jeming leave.
The commander stood in place, his gaze directed at the battlefield being cleared, fingers tapping unconsciously on the magic staff at his waist, lost in thought.
A moment later, he turned to Jeming, his voice steady yet inquisitive: "In the last cycle, judging from the record’s timestamps, after gaining the intelligence advantage, did we indeed take less than two months to completely crush the Skull tribe’s resistance, pushing them to the brink of civilization collapse?"
"Yes, Commander. From the records, that’s indeed the case." Jeming confirmed with a nod.
"I just discovered..." Frost’s gaze became sharp, "Many studies—especially the core research tying them deeply to the Time Cycle—were just initiated and far from completed. Many key experiments were disrupted due to the ’premature’ end of the war, leading to sample loss, and incomplete data."
Jeming was already aware of what he was about to say and nodded: "You’re right. As the war moved into its final stages, the research focus was forcibly shifted."
"So." Frost made a decision, "This cycle, we need to change the pace. Slow down the direct offense, prolong the war as much as possible."
"We don’t have to hurriedly destroy them, but rather create a ’continuous, controllable’ high-pressure state. The goal is to force them to continuously react, revealing more information, while securing the most ample time and richest samples for our research."
Jeming asked beside him: "Are you planning to use the war as a source of experimental pressure, observing their development changes, social structure adjustments, and... their interaction with the cyclic mechanism under long-term high pressure?"
"Precisely." Frost nodded, "The Record Crystals in your Grotto Heaven are our dashboard for controlling this ’experiment’s’ progress. We need to apply just the right amount of pressure or relaxation at each critical point, keeping the war’s simmering water perpetually on the brink of boiling."
Frost looked at Jeming with glowing eyes: "I hope your storage space is sufficient!"
"Rest assured, sir." Jeming bowed slightly, "My space is absolutely ample."
"Good!"
The fundamental shift in strategic direction immediately reflected in the subsequent months of the war situation.
The Wizard Legion remained formidable, with assaults still fierce, but no longer pursued crushing destruction.
The initiative was firmly held in the Wizards’ hands, supported by detailed intelligence, each battle felt like seeing the whole map, making any large-scale movements by the Skull tribe difficult to escape surveillance.
With detailed intelligence, the Wizards continuously attacked various resource sites and gatherings of the Skull tribe, acquiring numerous live samples.
And as more live samples, especially individuals at different developmental stages, were continuously sent to the rear laboratories, research progress began to rapidly advance.
More crucially, as most combat-targeted Witchcraft and techniques had already been mostly developed in the previous cycle, this cycle allowed more logistics department wizards to be liberated from weapon development.
A large number of logistics wizards fully dedicated themselves to deeper research on the essence of Skull tribe civilization, social structure, especially its deep relationship with the Time Cycle.
The concentration of research power led to qualitative changes.
In just a few months, breakthroughs were made in deciphering the information pheromone language of the Skull tribe.
Their social hierarchy and division of duties map was preliminarily drawn, and even several prototype models predicting "Time Ripples" were established.
To acquire the topmost samples, Frost personally acted.
In a meticulously planned bait action, he successfully captured two Eighth Level leaders of the Skull tribe alive.
When these two enormous beings, emanating terrifying pressure with complex Rune patterns naturally engraved on their shells, were sealed layer upon layer and shipped to the highest-protection laboratory at the research center, all wizards involved in the related research were thrilled.
Jeming immediately participated in the preliminary testing, extracting energy fluctuations and genetic information from them, which might directly reveal the "memory" retention extent of High Tier Skull tribe in the cycles.
However, it wasn’t long before the Wizard’s deliberately concocted "boiling frog" type of warfare finally alerted the highest echelon of the Skull tribe.
Time silently passed, and a year went by.
The Wizards immersed themselves in increasingly profound research, with various groundbreaking discoveries constantly emerging.
The situation seemed calm, but turbulence surged beneath the surface.
Until this day.
The piercing global alarm resounded without prelude over the entire Wizard Camp, even the deepest underground laboratories were enveloped by deafening buzzing and flashing scarlet Runes.
Jeming had just peeled off a fragment of an Eighth Level Skull tribe sample’s shell containing Time Law fragments, preparing for in-depth analysis.
The instant the alarm sounded, his heart sank.
The Magic Network Terminal automatically popped up with a top-priority emergency report, with frightening red text:
[Enemy Notification: The remaining main forces of the Skull tribe have moved out in full force, completing assembly a day ago at the front monitor zone. Confirmation includes reactions from three Eighth Level life forms. Total military strength is estimated to approach trillion level, forming a total strike formation. The vanguard has breached the seventh and ninth buffer zones, currently less than a thousand kilometers from the main base defense line. Judged as: civilization survival total attack.]
Approaching trillion army!
Three Eighth Level leaders personally leading!
Less than a thousand kilometers’ distance, for such a large High Energy extraordinary legion, is almost face-to-face.
After a year’s silence, the opponent accumulated such terrifying strength and chose the most resolute counterattack method.
