Chapter 680: Yet Another Modification

In the laboratory, the Nest lay quietly on the experimental platform, shrunk into a basketball-sized clump of blue gelatin.

Jie Ming pushed open the laboratory door and walked in, followed by the black giant priest.

“Wait outside,” Jie Ming said without looking back.

“Yes, Master.” The black figure retreated outside the door, and the vertical slit on its chest closed silently.

Jie Ming walked up to the workbench and looked down at the basketball-sized blue gelatin.

“Nest.” He reached out and poked its surface with a finger.

The blue gelatin trembled lightly, then immediately arched its body like a waking cat. A seam split open in the middle of its round body.

The Nest possessed 360-degree omnidirectional perception, but to communicate with its master, it would deliberately create unique markers—equivalent to a creature’s “front face.”

A faint silver glow flickered within the seam, its most primitive way of expressing closeness to its creator.

“Stop acting cute.” Jie Ming poked it again with an expressionless face. “This is serious business.”

The Nest immediately restrained its movements. The silver light in its perception seam coalesced into a more stable form, adopting an attentive listening posture.

Jie Ming first retrieved a stack of materials from his internal cave heaven.

These materials were thumb-sized transparent crystal wafers, each sealing densely packed data and images. Every crystal shimmered with an eerie dark purple luster.

This was the complete set of data he had compiled after conducting detailed research on The Strange.

He placed the materials on the workbench and glanced back and forth between the crystals and the Nest.

Indeed, Jie Ming was modifying the Nest yet again.

After the previous modification, the Nest’s level had already reached a state he found satisfactory.

At that time, Jie Ming and Viola had granted it core information conversion abilities based on information lifeforms.

Its primary function was to convert surrounding energy and matter into information, then reweave it into its own structure to achieve self-proliferation.

This design gave the Nest theoretically unlimited growth potential: the larger its size, the stronger its information processing capability; the stronger its processing, the faster its devouring and proliferation.

This positive feedback loop of “the bigger, the faster” granted the Nest an extremely terrifying advantage in prolonged battles and defensive warfare.

With additional computational support from the Fate Subsystem, a fully matured Nest could theoretically stand toe-to-toe against an ordinary seventh-ring wizard. However, during the last modification, he had lacked research data on The Strange.

Entities like The Strange possessed an extremely special survival mechanism.

They did not exist entirely on the material plane, nor entirely on the energy plane, but could directly integrate into the rule structure of their world. This special ability complemented the information conversion capabilities of information lifeforms quite well.

Thus, after handling his accumulated affairs, Jie Ming could not wait to begin modifying the Nest.

Jie Ming stood before the workbench and flexed his fingers.

Thanks to the professor’s research notes, Jie Ming’s understanding of The Strange ran quite deep.

Moreover, this modification was only a test run, so it was not particularly troublesome.

As Jie Ming activated his spiritual power, layers of magic arrays emerged on the experimental platform and superimposed onto the Nest.

The Nest very cooperatively opened its information structure.

Jie Ming’s spiritual power probed inside, directly operating on the foundational information chains.

He planned to first adjust the underlying architecture of the Nest’s information conversion ability.

He would implant a new rule frequency extraction module, allowing it to actively extract frequency information related to world rules from devoured matter and energy, then weave these into its own structural units.

Next, he would strengthen its immortality by liberating the core information from fixed nodes, splitting it into countless fragments and scattering them across the rule level.

Finally, he would enhance its defensive capabilities, enabling the Nest to briefly shift portions of its body back to the rule level when under attack, thereby evading pure physical and energy damage.

The entire process was frighteningly fast.

The elevation brought by the Dao Integration Realm was not limited to improved comprehension of various laws.

During the modification surgery, thanks to his Dao Integration state, Jie Ming even had the illusion that he could control everything.

When he withdrew his spiritual power, the Nest on the experimental platform had already taken on a new appearance.

Faint fluorescence drifted across the surface of its deep blue gelatin, and its presence had become elusive and indistinct.

It was clearly lying there, yet it felt as if separated by an indefinable thin mist.

Jie Ming reached out and poked it. “Let’s go to the testing ground.”

The Nest bounced up, obediently shrinking back to basketball size, and was stored into his internal cave heaven.

The testing ground was located three thousand meters beneath the laboratory—an enormous hemispherical space with a diameter exceeding two thousand kilometers.

The surrounding walls were cast from multilayer composite alchemical materials, densely engraved with buffering runes and energy absorption arrays. The black giant priest had already received Jie Ming’s orders transmitted via the Incense Fire Divine Dao and was waiting at the testing ground’s control station.

The control station consisted of a single large curved crystal panel projecting hundreds of floating runes, each corresponding to different functional modules within the testing ground.

His fingers hovered above the runes as the vertical slit on his chest opened slightly, emitting a low, rumbling report:

“Master, all testing arrays have been activated at maximum power. Standard energy attack targets, physical impact targets, spatial lockdown simulation fields, and rule seal simulation arrays are all in position. The Fate Subsystem tracking module is connected and awaiting instructions.”

“Thank you for your hard work.” Jie Ming walked to the observation platform at the edge of the testing ground, took the Nest out of his internal cave heaven, and said, “Go in.”

The blue gelatin leaped into the center of the testing ground, landing with a soft “plop.”

It swelled slightly under the cold white lights, its perception seam turning toward the observation platform as it awaited orders.

“First test: information conversion efficiency. Standard organic target, deploy.”

A panel on the ceiling slid open silently, dropping a standard test biological shell directly above the Nest.

It was a lizard-like creature about three meters long, already killed in advance, with its tissues perfectly intact.

The Nest moved.

In the blink of an eye, its body expanded from basketball size into a five-meter-diameter disk. Its edges curled upward like a gaping maw to meet the falling biological shell.

Almost the instant it made contact, the biological shell swallowed by the blue gelatin vanished.

The creature’s muscles, bones, internal organs, epidermis—all organic matter—was instantly converted into an information state and rewoven into the Nest’s own structural units.

Jie Ming stared at the real-time data panel on the control station.

Conversion speed: 3.2 times higher than before modification.

Conversion efficiency: 97.6% of organic matter converted into its own structure, with only 2.4% loss—nearly half of what it had been before.

“Continue. Standard energy attack target, activate.”

The black giant priest pressed a rune.

Three rows of cannon-like devices lit up on the eastern wall of the testing ground, rapidly gathering crimson light within them.

Three standard fifth-ring energy beams fired simultaneously, striking the Nest precisely. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The moment the beams hit the blue gelatin’s surface, they vanished as if water droplets falling into parched desert.

The Nest’s body did not even tremble; instead, the halo on its surface grew slightly brighter.

The energy absorption conversion rate on the panel jumped: 99.1%.

“Sixth-ring energy attack,” Jie Ming continued.

The cannon muzzles shifted from crimson to blazing white.

Thicker energy beams slammed into the Nest. This time, visible ripples appeared on its surface, and a deep crater formed in the blue gelatin. But the crater was instantly filled by surrounding gelatin surging in.

The absorbed energy was rapidly disassembled and converted by the newly implanted rule frequency extraction module.

Absorption rate: 94%.

“Seventh-ring, penetration mode.”

The black giant priest’s finger paused for a moment over the rune.

A seventh-ring energy attack—even at the standard output of the test targets—possessed penetration power capable of piercing most conventional defenses.

A slender silver cannon barrel descended from the testing ground’s ceiling, its muzzle only as thick as a fingertip.

A highly compressed energy beam shot out, leaving a scorching ionized trail in the air.

The beam struck the Nest. This time, it was not absorbed but pierced straight through the entire creature.

Yet Jie Ming saw clearly that the instant the attack landed, the Nest had actively shifted the impacted region to the rule level.

That small patch of gelatin briefly vanished from the material plane, allowing the energy beam to pass through unhindered and strike the absorption array on the opposite end of the testing ground. The Nest itself remained completely unharmed.

Jie Ming’s eyebrows rose slightly, a hint of delight on his face.

This was the core of this defensive modification: at the moment of impact, temporarily hiding the affected area within the world’s rule structure. It was effective against both physical and energy attacks. As long as the attack itself lacked the ability to lock onto the rule level, it could be dodged.

“Physical impact test,” he continued.

The testing ground’s floor split open, and a heavy-duty physical impact device rose from below.

It was a three-meter-tall metal apparatus with a one-meter-diameter blunt hammer head at the end, covered in kinetic amplification runes. The hammer slammed down with terrifying force.

The Nest’s body was flattened like a stomped jelly.

But in the next second, it reformed from both sides of the hammer. The flattened area had similarly evaded most of the kinetic impact through rule frequency shifting. The instruments showed 87% physical damage absorption, with the remaining 13% of kinetic energy completely neutralized by the gelatin body’s buffering structure.

Jie Ming recorded the data from the observation platform, his fingers constantly tracing through the air to file away each metric.

The three core indicators—information conversion, energy absorption, and physical resistance—all exceeded pre-modification expectations.

Next came the main event.

“Spatial lockdown simulation field, activate.”

Silver runes lit up simultaneously across the testing ground’s walls.

The spatial lockdown simulation field was a large-scale array capable of covering the entire test space.

It could simulate various types of spatial sealing effects, including spatial solidification or spatial compression—lockdown methods one might encounter in actual combat.

Silver light patterns wove into a massive grid in the air, enveloping the Nest.

Faced with such measures, the Nest… simply disappeared.

In truth, it had actively integrated into the world rules.

Before spatial compression could touch its body, the Nest had completed its transition from the material plane to the rule level.

The testing ground’s spatial lockdown had no effect on it, because its existence was no longer bound by spatial structures.

Blue halos flickered in and out across the entire testing ground, like a fish lurking in dark currents.

“Add teleportation interference,” Jie Ming pushed the test to the next stage.

The instant the interference field activated, intense distortion ripples erupted within the testing ground.

These fluctuations were enough to tear apart or deflect any object attempting to teleport.

Yet this still had little effect on the Nest.

Tracking data on the control station’s secondary panel fluctuated continuously.

Jie Ming nodded in satisfaction.

This meant that in actual combat, even the conventional lockdown methods commonly used by wizards would be unable to stop the Nest from escaping.

It had effectively resolved the Nest’s greatest previous weakness: mobility.

Although its movement speed was not yet particularly strong, at least it would no longer be forced to remain in place as a sitting target.

“Final test,” Jie Ming said. “Rule seal simulation array, activate.”

The black giant priest pressed the last rune.

The lighting in the entire testing ground dimmed.

Within the coverage of this array, any technique attempting to utilize world rules would be forcibly severed.

The Nest’s body materialized in the center of the testing ground.

The rule seal simulation array had taken effect.

It could no longer maintain its integration with the rule level and was forced back to the material plane.

Jie Ming was not surprised; after all, this was a newly developed counter specifically aimed at The Strange.

Faced with a seal targeting the rule level, the Nest’s integration ability would temporarily fail.

But the key point was that even under rule seal suppression, the Nest’s other abilities continued to function normally.

Its blue gelatin body showed no signs of shrinking, and although its halo was suppressed, it had not extinguished.

In other words, the rule seal only prevented its integration and escape capabilities; it could not fundamentally threaten its continued existence.

This meant that most conventional rule seal methods could only partially restrict it and could not completely neutralize it. Moreover, the Nest retained sufficient counterattack capability when facing such measures.

“Test data,” Jie Ming extended his hand.

The black giant priest handed him a recording crystal.

Conversion rate, absorption rate, resistance, integration speed, performance degradation under rule seals, Fate Subsystem tracking precision…

Jie Ming scanned the data line by line, his gaze lingering on several key figures.

Information conversion rate increased by 3.2 times, causing the theoretical upper limit of its size to expand accordingly.

The Nest’s body could not expand infinitely; its previous critical point had been limited by information nodes failing to keep up with body expansion speed.

But with conversion rate more than tripled, it could now manipulate more matter and energy with fewer nodes, significantly pushing back the size critical point.

Combined with its ability to integrate into world rules, energy loss and physical constraints during expansion would be further reduced.

Jie Ming performed a quick mental calculation.

Based on current data, without considering the Fate Subsystem’s computational support, the Nest’s fully matured theoretical size would leap from the original “great lake level” to at least “inland sea level.”

Correspondingly, with the Fate Subsystem’s computational support, its strength and ability to confront high-tier enemies head-on would improve even further.

Jie Ming estimated it could rise from resisting seventh-ring wizards to a level capable of threatening ordinary seventh-ring wizards.

Although this was only theoretical deduction…

After all, allowing the Nest to truly grow to that scale would require an astronomical total of matter and energy.

But at least the possibility existed. The rest was simply a matter of accumulating resources and time.

Jie Ming returned the recording crystal to the black giant priest, the corners of his mouth finally lifting into a slight smile.

“Very good,” he said.

“Test complete. Nest, let’s go.”

The Nest bounced up from the center of the testing ground. By the time it landed in his hand, it had automatically shrunk back to basketball size.

The halo on the blue gelatin’s surface flowed steadily, silver light flickering in the seam—like a hunting dog that had completed its task, waiting for the next command.

Jie Ming patted it and stored it back into his internal cave heaven.

He then turned and walked through the testing ground’s corridor, his footsteps echoing off the stone walls as the black giant priest followed quietly behind him.

Back in the laboratory, he stopped in front of the workbench.

His internal cave heaven opened once more. This time, he took out several Prowlers.

Fist-sized silver-gray bullet-shaped creatures were neatly arranged on the workbench, their tail-end pale blue rune rings glowing faintly under the lights. These were early aerial combat cannon fodder he had created, primarily featuring high-speed flight and self-destruct capabilities.

Later, as enemy levels rose and pure explosive damage became insufficient, he had added spatial concealment modules to them, repurposing them as reconnaissance units.

They approached targets through phase space concealment and relayed intelligence. Their effectiveness was decent.

However, the bottleneck of spatial concealment had become obvious. The spatial fluctuations produced by phase shifting could not be completely eliminated; sixth-ring and above existences or professional spatial detection equipment could capture those ripples.

The core value of reconnaissance units lay in being “unseen.” Once discovered, their value dropped to zero.

Fortunately, The Strange’s ability to integrate into laws far surpassed ordinary spatial abilities in terms of self-concealment.

Back in the Strange plane, if it had been a type of Strange skilled at integrating into laws, even sixth- or seventh-ring high-tier wizards would have been unable to find a hidden one—provided it did not flip the table and blow up the surrounding environment.

Undoubtedly, this level of concealment ability would also be highly effective for improving the Prowlers.

He picked up the leftmost one, sending his spiritual power into its shell.

Unlike the Nest modification, which had focused solely on improving mobility, the core of the Prowler modification was not enhancing their combat power but pushing their concealment ability to the extreme.

Jie Ming’s fingers traced through the air. Crystal wafers containing Strange research data floated above the workbench once more.

After searching through the materials with his spiritual power for a long time, Jie Ming finally picked up the first Prowler and began working.