Chapter 438: Speculation
Translator: AnubisTL
“Reporting.”
“Come in.”
Jieming stood outside the command center. Hearing the voice from within, he pushed the door open and entered.
Frost was standing before the tactical sand table. The projection above it had already been updated—the red dots representing the Scythe-Skull Race were vanishing in vast swathes, leaving only a few isolated pockets of resistance.
“You’re here.” Without looking up, Frost tossed a few crystals toward him. “These are the detailed data from the last battle: energy consumption statistics, tactical response times, analysis of the enemy commander’s behavioral patterns… I’m hoping you can save these into the next round. I’m not sure if that’s possible.”
Jieming caught the crystals and swept them with his divine sense.
The data inside was indeed extremely professional, containing details he hadn’t even noticed before—such as the abnormal fluctuations in the Scythe-Skull Race’s pheromone network encryption during the late stages of the battle.
“No problem.” He tucked the crystals into his robes, actually storing them in a dedicated area within his internal grotto-heaven. “I will establish an independent archive database, categorized by time, type, and importance.”
“Excellent.” Frost finally looked up, his eyes gleaming with irrepressible excitement. “Next question: What is the storage limit for these recording crystals?”
Jieming paused.
He instinctively “glanced” into his internal grotto-heaven. After so much expansion, the space had grown to the size of a continent.
Though it was still a small space within the plane, when it came to storing items…
“If it’s just recording crystals,” he said, choosing his words carefully, “we shouldn’t have to worry about storage capacity in the short term.”
Frost raised an eyebrow.
“It seems your… thing has a very high storage limit. But you’ll be storing the records of the entire battlefield later.” He pressed for confirmation. “Are you sure?”
“I am sure,” Jieming replied, his expression unchanging. “Rest assured, there will be no issues with storage space itself.”
Frost fell silent for a moment, lost in thought. Then, a sudden idea struck him.
He walked up to Jieming and stared into his eyes. “What if I ask you to store more than just the battlefield records?”
“What do you mean, sir?”
“Technology,” Frost said. “All the research data on the Scythe-Skull Race. Energy weapon countermeasures, carapace material analysis, pheromone network reverse-engineering… even our own research data on the ‘Time Reincarnation’ itself.”
Jieming’s breath quickened.
“This data…” Jieming tried to keep his voice steady, speaking slowly. “It’s… priceless.”
“Of course,” Frost nodded. “So I won’t have you working for nothing. In addition to the standard military merits you’ll receive after the war, I can grant you a special privilege: you will have unrestricted access to all the technical data you store. You can study it, research it, and even use it in your own experiments—as long as you don’t leak it.”
Jieming’s heart hammered against his ribs.
This was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Wizards were, by nature, a class dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Now, Frost was handing him a complete, continuously updated technical database!
“I accept,” Jieming said without hesitation.
There was no need to even think about it.
Seeing this, Frost smiled.
“A commendable thirst for knowledge. That’s the most fundamental quality of a wizard,” Frost said. “But you should understand that accepting this mission means you can no longer go to the frontlines. Though, as I recall, you’re a logistics wizard, so the frontlines shouldn’t be of much importance to you anyway.”
He turned and rapidly typed commands into the magic net terminal.
Seconds later, the orders were transmitted via the legion’s internal network to the terminals of every logistics wizard.
Order Priority: Highest Content: Immediately launch the “Reincarnation Cracking” special research project. All relevant wizards are to form squads and conduct research on the Scythe-Skull Race’s technology and the time reincarnation phenomenon. Research findings must be submitted to the Tactical Command Center for review and archiving. Special Note: This is a continuous order, effective until the end of this planar war.
With the orders sent, Frost looked at Jieming. “What do you think?”
“I’m at your service.”
“Excellent.” Frost gazed out the window. Dawn was approaching, and the horizon was already turning a pale, fish-belly white.
“A new day is about to begin,” he said softly. “And this time, we will no longer passively await reincarnation.”
“We will actively create history.”
One month.
For a planar war involving two advanced civilizations, this timeframe was so short it felt like a mere exercise. Yet, within these brief thirty standard wizard days, the tide of battle had turned completely.
Streaks of light crisscrossed the sky—the flight paths of wizard squads.
After issuing the research assignments, Frost proceeded to deploy exploration missions to the entire wizard legion. Armed with the intelligence from Jieming, Frost’s tactics were simple yet devastatingly effective: abandon the cumbersome army-group maneuvers and leverage their intelligence advantage to the fullest.
The wizards broke into smaller units, forming elite squads of three to five. Like precision surgical scalpels, they sliced into every corner of the Scythe-Skull Race’s territory. Their primary objective was to record all information gathered during their reconnaissance and report it upon their return.
As a result, the Scythe-Skull Race’s meticulously constructed defenses became a sieve in the face of the wizards.
“Seventh Squad reporting: Energy Node Three has been destroyed. The enemy garrison attempted to initiate a self-destruct sequence, but it was blocked by a pre-implanted rune lock. One intact data core captured.”
“Fourteenth Squad has completed the cleanup of Acid Canyon. A new Scythe-Skull variant has been discovered; the sample has been collected and sealed.”
“Logistics Squad Three requesting reinforcement. We’ve encountered a counterattack from a burrower swarm while excavating the underground fortifications… Wait, problem solved. These bugs are pitifully weak now that they’re out of the time reincarnation loop.”
The command center’s communication channel buzzed with a steady stream of victory reports.
Frost sat before the tactical projection, hundreds of real-time battlefield feeds floating in the air before him. His fingers tapped the empty air, sorting, analyzing, and redistributing the new intelligence.
“Advance speed is forty percent faster than expected,” he muttered, his eyes devoid of joy. “Too smooth. It seems they’ll flip the table much sooner than before.”
Even without his memories of the reincarnation, Frost knew all too well: the smoother their own advance, the greater the chance the enemy would use time reversal to flip the table.
“But… these bugs don’t seem to be planning to trigger time reversal immediately. Are the conditions for using that ability not met? Are they trying to gather more intelligence? Or… is it something else?”
From the reports sent back by the various wizard squads, the Scythe-Skull Race seemed to be… consolidating.
(End of the Chapter)