Wizard: My career panel has no upper limit

Chapter 475 You should all commit suicide.

The underground keel network sensed the resonance with the celestial phenomena and began to release even stronger elemental vibrations.

Each tremor creates visible ripples of energy in every corner.

These ripples are as dazzling as the aurora borealis, but the power they contain is enough to tear the flesh and blood of ordinary people apart.

Ron stood on a high ground, observing the changes on the distant battlefield through his "spirit vision".

Under this special perception, the entire arena is like a giant living organism undergoing some kind of pathological transformation.

Countless translucent death marks floated in the air like fireflies; these were fragments of the souls left behind by the contestants who had just died.

But what is even more disturbing is that these marks of death have not dissipated according to the laws of nature.

Instead, they are drawn together by some unseen force, converging in a specific direction.

"Acelia, what did you see?"

Ron asked in his mind.

The ancient dragon soul's perception was more acute than his, and it might be able to discern the essence of this strange phenomenon.

"A terrifying sight."

Azalea's voice was filled with deep unease:
"Those madmen from the Tree of Life school must be conducting some kind of large-scale necromancy experiment."

They are using death itself as a 'catalyst' to forcibly rewrite the fundamental structure of life.

She paused for a moment, her tone becoming more serious:
"This technology was explicitly prohibited in the Second Age because it would create completely out-of-control mutant creatures."

Those beings that are 'improved' will eventually become monsters that even their creators cannot control.

Ron's heart sank.

If Acelia's judgment is correct.

So the real purpose of this "Night of Elements" may be far more than just selecting the strongest.

The Tree of Life school may very well be using the unique environment of a triple lunar eclipse to conduct some kind of unprecedented large-scale experiment.

………………

In the Tree of Life School's temporary camp, the air was as heavy as an impending thunderstorm.

The light from the triple lunar eclipse streamed through the gaps in the tents, turning everything an ominous blood red.

Leona, Winnie, and Caroline sat around a round table woven from living vines, on which sat a crystal communication mirror.

The mirror reflected Leonardo DiCaprio's indifferent face, clad in gold-rimmed glasses.

"The time is ripe for my artworks."

Leonardo's voice came through the mirror, gentle yet carrying an undeniable authority:
"According to element monitoring data, the resonance of the keel network has reached its peak, which is the best time to start the 'rebirth enhancement program'."

He pushed up his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses flashing with the cold indifference of someone looking at a lab rat.

"According to the plan, you need to end your lives in the next ten minutes and then rely on the resurrection mechanism to evolve."

As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the tent froze instantly.

The three witches turned ashen-faced at the same time, as if they had heard a call from hell.

"Mentor, are you saying...we should commit suicide?"

Leona's voice trembled, and her usually cold and ruthless emerald eyes were now filled with unbelievable fear:
"But... but what if the resurrection fails? Wouldn't that mean I'm really dead?"

Although the three of them are as cruel as devils when facing enemies, they can transform living people into twisted works of art without hesitation.

But when the shadow of death looms over them, humanity's most primal survival instinct instantly overwhelms all rational thought.

Winnie hugged her wings tightly, trembling like a frightened butterfly:

"Master, we have already dedicated so much to the school, why...why must we die?"

Her voice trembled with tears, and glistening tears began to well up in her eyes.
"I've never seen a real sea of ​​flowers, I've never experienced the feeling of flying freely, I don't want to die."

Caroline instinctively protected her abdomen, the most vulnerable and crucial part of her body after the modifications:
“Mentor, my children are so young. What will happen to them if I die? They still need their mother’s care.”

Faced with death, these three once cold-blooded and ruthless modifiers now revealed the purest form of human fear.

The madness and cruelty of the past were gone from their eyes; only fear of the unknown and a deep attachment to life remained.

Leonardo listened quietly to their pleas, his expression remaining completely unchanged.

He even straightened his tie, as if what he had just heard was not a pleas for mercy, but some insignificant background noise.

"My artworks, you have disappointed me greatly."

His voice remained gentle, but it carried a chilling threat:

"Didn't you act very brave when you underwent the modification surgery? You were willing to abandon your human dignity in order to gain power."

"Now, all I'm asking you is to take the final step, to complete the transformation from human to a true work of art, and you're already cowering?"

Leonardo shook his head, a look of extreme disappointment in his eyes:

"It seems that the initial assessment was flawed. I thought you were already sufficiently prepared to dedicate everything to art."

"But now it seems that you still retain too many of humanity's worst traits—fear of death and timidity towards the unknown."

Hearing their mentor's criticism, the three of them looked even more unpleasant.

They wanted to argue back, to defend themselves, but in the face of the threat of death, any words seemed pale and powerless.

Leona gritted her teeth, trying to make her voice sound firm:
“Mentor, we are not afraid of death, we just want to be better prepared.”

“Yes!” Winnie quickly chimed in:
"Perhaps we can wait until the next triple lunar eclipse? Or find a safer method of resurrection?"

Caroline nodded vigorously:
"Mentor, our loyalty is beyond question; we simply hope to choose a more suitable time."

Leonardo laughed at the three men's clumsy excuses.

"I understand. It seems you don't intend to cooperate willingly."

He suddenly took off his glasses and carefully wiped the lenses with a handkerchief:

"That's good. Enforcement procedures are actually more precise and can ensure that the operation is completed at the best time."

Upon hearing the words "enforcement," all three of them felt their hearts skip a beat simultaneously.

An ominous premonition hung over their hearts like a dark cloud.

"Mentor, what do you mean by that?"

Leona asked, her voice trembling, but she already had a vague idea of ​​the answer.

Leonardo put his glasses back on, and the eyes behind the lenses were as cold as a frozen lake in the depths of winter.
"You don't naively think that when I modified you, I simply enhanced your abilities, do you?"

His voice became light and cheerful, as if he were discussing the weather:
"With each surgery, I will implant some small safety measures in your central nervous system."

"These measures are normally dormant and will not affect your normal activities, but will be implemented when necessary."

At this point, Leonardo snapped his fingers:

“They will then be activated to ensure that my artworks function as intended.”

As soon as they finished speaking, all three of them felt a sharp pain deep in their brains.

The pain did not come from an external attack, but rather from the forced activation of some foreign substance within the nervous system.

"My body...I'm out of control..."

Leona clutched her head, groaning in pain:

"What did you implant in our brains?"

Winnie's wings began to tremble uncontrollably, and blood-red tears streamed from her compound eyes.
"Mentor, please, don't do this to us."

Caroline felt the bio-factory in her abdomen becoming unusually active.

The parasitic creatures seemed to sense their master's fear and began to stir restlessly:
"We are your most loyal students. Why are you treating us like this?"

Leonardo watched the three men struggle in agony with a cold eye, a satisfied expression on his face like an artist admiring a work of art:
"Loyalty? Where was there even a trace of loyalty in your behavior just now?"

“True works of art should unconditionally obey the will of their creator. Since you cannot obey willingly, you can only execute them passively.”

The control device implanted in the central nervous system began to fully activate, and the three felt their bodies completely break free from the control of their consciousness.

"Now, my artworks are executing their self-termination commands according to the program."

Leonardo DiCaprio's voice was like the pronouncement of death, cold and irresistible:
"The method is not limited, efficiency is the priority. The revival process will start automatically in ten minutes."

Leona's right hand began to move uncontrollably toward her chest, her fingers as sharp as blades, ready to pierce her heart.

She tried desperately to stop the movement, but her body wouldn't obey her brain's commands.

"No, no, I don't want to die!"

Tears streamed down her face like a burst dam, but her arm continued to move without pause.

Winnie's wings began to secrete deadly toxins, not releasing them outwards, but rather seeping inwards to poison her own circulatory system.

She could clearly feel the toxins spreading in her blood vessels, slowly eroding the foundation of her life.

"Mentor, please, please let me live. I'll do anything."

But the pleas seemed so powerless in the face of cruel reality.

Caroline's situation was the most dire.

The biological factories in the abdomen began to operate in reverse, and the parasites that were originally used to attack enemies now turned around and began to devour the mother's internal organs.

The excruciating pain caused her to let out a wild, dying howl, but her body was still forced to cooperate with this self-destructive process.

"Why...why are you doing this to us?"

Her voice was hoarse from the pain:
"We are clearly your most prized work."

Leonardo quietly observed the process of the three men's deaths.

There was no pity in his eyes, only the focused concentration of a researcher recording experimental data.

"Art requires sacrifice, beauty requires pain."

He quickly wrote in his lab notebook:

“Your death is not the end, but an ascension to a higher level of existence. You should feel honored.”

"When you are resurrected, you will understand the meaning of all this."

At that time, you will become truly perfect works of art, freed from the constraints of human emotions, existing purely for beauty.

As their life force waned, the three's struggles gradually weakened.

Despair overwhelmed their consciousness like a tidal wave.

They finally realized that they had never been “proud students” or “precious works of art”.

In Leonardo's eyes, they were just experimental subjects that could be manipulated at will, deprived of even the most basic right to decide their own life and death.

Those transformations we were once so proud of, those powers we thought we had gained, turned out to be nothing more than more sophisticated shackles.

As the darkness of death finally engulfed their consciousness, the last thought in the minds of all three was the same: despair.
"We have never truly lived."

………………

The chill of death spread like a tide.

Leona's "body" lay quietly in a pool of blood, the fatal wound on her chest no longer bleeding.

Her skin was a sickly bluish-purple, her eyes were tightly closed, and she was not breathing.

To any observer, the young witch was utterly dead.

But just when the light of the lunar eclipse was at its strongest, a miracle occurred.

Leona's body began to twitch slightly, like a specimen being stimulated by an electric current.

Strange green sap began to gush from the edges of the fatal wound on his chest. This sap was not blood, but the essence of some kind of vibrant plant.

They wriggle like living things, rapidly repairing damaged blood vessels and organs.

The entire resurrection process lasted nearly ten minutes.

When Leona reopened her eyes, her pupils had turned a sunflower-like golden yellow, and tiny flower stamens were slowly turning deep within them.

"I'm alive?"

She struggled to sit up, but immediately noticed the unusual changes in her body.

Her once slender arms have now become as thick as tree trunks, covered with a rough, bark-like keratin layer.

Even more bizarrely, her palms and fingers had completely disappeared, replaced by two enormous carnivorous flowers.

These flowers are half a meter in diameter and are filled with dagger-like thorns and glands that secrete digestive juices.

The petals have blood-red edges and an alluring pink interior, exuding a sweet fragrance.

However, this fragrance has a hypnotic and seductive effect on intelligent beings.

"What's this?"

Leona looked at her "new" arm in fear, trying to manipulate her fingers as before.

But the flowers opened and closed mechanically, making a chewing sound.

Even more terrifying, she began to feel a hunger she had never experienced before.

It's not just ordinary appetite, but a greedy craving that originates from deep within the cells.

Her "new" arm seemed to have its own consciousness, constantly looking around, searching for "nutrients" to devour.

Just then, Winnie and Caroline walked over from not far away.

They have just been resurrected and are adapting to the changes in their bodies.

But when Leona saw her teammates, that hunger instantly reached its peak.

In her new perception, Winnie and Caroline are no longer comrades-in-arms, but two walking, delicious "meat."

The unique protein scent of insects that Winnie the Pooh possessed;

The abundant life essence within Caroline's body;

Each one caused Leona's predatory flowers to secrete more digestive fluids.

"Winnie."

Leona tried hard to control her voice, but saliva was already involuntarily drooling from the corner of her mouth.
You look delicious.

The flower-shaped arms began to stretch uncontrollably toward Winnie, revealing vampire-like fangs as the petals opened.

Winnie sensed the danger and instinctively backed away.

But her own mutation was equally twisted.

The once beautiful butterfly wings have now become three pairs, each with a different color and function.

The first pair retained their original vibrant colors and were primarily used for flight;

The second pair is deep purple and can release deadly poison powder;
The third pair is blood red, specifically used to detect the smell of blood.

But the most terrifying change occurred at the level of her consciousness.

"I am Winnie. No. I am Butterfly Nectar. Where is the blood? I need blood."

Her words were broken and her tone kept changing.

Sometimes it is the rational voice of humanity, sometimes it is the hissing whisper of some kind of beast.

During her resurrection, her human consciousness and insect instincts underwent an irreversible fusion.

She currently possesses two completely different modes of thinking, and they are constantly vying for control of her body.

When human consciousness is dominant, she can still communicate and think normally;
But when her insect instincts take over, she becomes a pure predatory machine, only concerned with finding food, reproducing, and surviving.

Caroline's transformation was the most terrifying of the three.

Her abdomen was completely split open, forming a huge opening about one meter in diameter.

Inside the opening is a complex "biological factory" with countless tentacle-like production lines.

These production lines are capable of manufacturing a wide variety of parasitic organisms at an astonishing speed:
Worms with sharp teeth, small winged spiders, and creatures with exploding venom sacs.
Each one has specific functions and attack methods.

The problem is that Caroline has completely lost control of these "products".

Once created, these parasitic organisms act on instinct, attacking all living things, including their "mothers."

Caroline now resembles an out-of-control weapons factory, constantly producing dangerous creations that even she herself cannot control.

"My children, my children."

She tried to cover the opening in her abdomen with her hands, but the newly formed parasites immediately bit her fingers:

"Why...why are you attacking Mom?"

Blood dripped from his fingertips, but this only fueled the attacking desires of the parasites.

The three teammates who used to work together seamlessly have now become threats to each other.

Leona cannot control her cravings for "food";

Winnie constantly switches between two states of consciousness, making her behavior completely unpredictable;
Caroline is surrounded by the monsters she "created" and could be torn to pieces at any moment.

This mutation is not evolution, but a twisted curse.

The Tree of Life school's claim of "perfect transformation" is actually a forced distortion of the essence of life.

They grant individuals powerful abilities, but at the same time deprive them of the fundamental attributes of being "independent individuals".

………………

The situation with the indigenous alliance was even more chaotic and bizarre.

The collective consciousness network constructed by the multifaceted group suffered serious malfunctions due to the intense elemental interference of the triple lunar eclipse.

Originally intended to coordinate the connection of consciousness between different tribes, it has now become a means of spreading mind pollution.

Each warrior connected to the network simultaneously possesses memories and personalities from different tribes in their mind.

The warriors of the Sandwalker tribe suddenly gained the Wind Whisperer's sonic perception;

The heavily armored warriors of the Stoneheart tribe began to exhibit symptoms of multiple personality disorder.

Meanwhile, the coordinators of the multifaceted tribe are torn apart by countless conflicting memories and identities, almost driving them to madness.

"who I am?"

A young warrior who originally belonged to the Sandwalker tribe clutched his head in anguish:

"I remember growing up in the desert, but I also remember flying in the sky and digging for stones in the deep mountains."

"Which of these memories are real? What is my real name? Who are my parents?"

Similar chaos is evident in every online warrior.

In the midst of confused memories, the relationship between friend and foe also becomes blurred.

A soldier might consider someone a brother one second, but the next second, because of another personality's memories, he might see that person as a sworn enemy.

The entire indigenous alliance descended into chaos and infighting, more deadly than any external attack.

………………

At the other end of the arena, cracks began to appear in Cecilia and Baroque's "perfect combination".

As the war worsened, the environment became increasingly "ugly" and chaotic.

Bloodstains, corpses, broken equipment, and twisted signs of destruction were everywhere.

This sight was an unbearable torment for Cecilia, who pursued absolute beauty.

"No, no. This is too ugly."

She covered her eyes, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"The stench of blood, decay, and burning is polluting the beauty of the entire world."

As the aesthetic appeal of the environment declined sharply, her "aesthetic system" began to collapse completely.

Those once orderly fragments of the mirror are now flying everywhere like out-of-control blades.

The aesthetic power that once reshaped reality is now struggling to even maintain its own image.

Cecilia's hair began to fall apart, her makeup started to smudge, and even her perfect dress began to wrinkle and get stained.

For someone who sees "beauty" as the meaning of life, such a collapse of their image is more fatal than any attack.

"I've become ugly."

She stared at her shattered reflection in the mirror and let out a desperate scream:

"I can't become ugly! Absolutely not!"

Baroque tried to comfort her, but he wasn't in much better shape himself.

The doubts about the truth of his bloodline made him fundamentally doubt his own power.

The "Raging Combo" technique is based on absolute confidence in one's bloodline.

When this confidence begins to waver, anger loses its purity, and fighting power declines sharply as a result.

Even more terrifying, he began to doubt whether he was worthy of the title "Heir of the Red Bloodline".

If his bloodline is truly the result of artificial modification, then everything he is proud of is nothing but a false glory built on lies.

"Who am I?"

Baroque stared blankly at his hands:
"If even my bloodline is fake, then what is the meaning of my existence?"

The two entities that originally formed an alliance because of their "pursuit of perfection" are now both deeply questioning their own nature.

They were no longer a threat on the battlefield, but two pitiful souls gradually collapsing under the impact of reality.

………………

Ron took in all the chaos.

Through his "spirit vision," he saw a truth deeper than what was on the surface.

Each resurrected contestant exhibited a clear "missing" phenomenon in their soul.

It's like a jigsaw puzzle missing a few key pieces, causing the whole picture to become distorted and incomplete.

These missing fragments of soul are being collected by some unseen force and are converging towards the core area of ​​the arena.

"This is not a simple case of the dead coming back to life."

Acelia's voice was unusually serious:
"They are harvesting the 'essence' of the soul, leaving behind only contaminated and defective products."

Ron finally understood the true purpose of the Tree of Life school.

This "Night of Elements" was a carefully designed trap from the very beginning.

What they want is not to select the strongest, but to collect enough high-quality soul materials.

Now, with more and more participants "coming back to life," the project is gradually approaching completion.

The triple lunar eclipse reached its peak in the sky, with eerie purplish-red light raining down on the earth like blood.

Under the influence of this supernatural force, the entire arena is undergoing unprecedented distortion and mutation.

(End of this chapter)