I, a cultivator, have ended up in the wizarding world.

Chapter 467 Tension and Preparation

After calming himself down, Jieming stared at the distant sky.

The enormous spatial rift that stretched across the sky, like a pitch-black maw tearing apart the heavens, hung silently at the edge of the ship's plane.

Unstable purple-blue energy flows along the edge of the crack, occasionally bursting out a few annihilating bolts of lightning—these are the high-energy particle streams generated by the friction between two higher-dimensional spaces during their forced docking.

His breathing became rapid involuntarily.

The lungs expand, contract, and then expand again.

The sound of air entering and exiting the trachea is amplified in the eardrum, sounding as heavy as an old bellows.

It wasn't until the sound abruptly entered his consciousness that Jemin snapped awake.

Did I just... zone out?

He looked down at his hands.

The skin surface had an abnormal pale red tinge, as if lava was slowly flowing beneath the skin.

The breath he exhaled condensed into white mist in front of him. No, the temperature was too high; it was a heat wave that distorted the air, enough to scald the flesh and blood of an ordinary human in an instant.

"I...I'm nervous..."

Jemin murmured as he exhaled, his tone carrying a hint of unfamiliar realization.

Yes, it's tension.

My muscles are slightly tense, my blood circulation is accelerating, and I'm highly focused yet unable to fully control my attention...

All these physiological reactions point to an emotion that seems almost ancient to him now.

How long?
When was the last time I had this feeling?
Having just transmigrated to this world, he stood before the towering gates of Norren Academy, awaiting the moment that would decide his fate.

His hands were ice-cold, and his heart was pounding like a drum.

Then came my first participation in a planar war, when I followed the Academy Legion into Plane Noren 147.

In the minutes before the battle, he also experienced difficulty breathing.

But what happens after that?

How long has it been since he felt this way?
Five hundred years?
Or a thousand years?

Jemin was already used to handling everything as a wizard, and he was also used to being cold and rational in the face of all kinds of situations.

When facing a crisis, calmly analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and ourselves, calculate resource consumption, design contingency plans, and execute the optimal solution.

When faced with certain death, he would even enter a state of transcendent calm—a confidence born of knowledge and an instinct honed over many years.

But this time is different.

"The opponent is a wizard." He realized.

It is not mindless monsters, not otherworldly beings that rely on talent, and not those indigenous civilizations that can be crushed by technology.

He is a wizard.

They are like him, armored by reason and wielding knowledge as their sharp blade, pursuing truth throughout the endless years.

Fear naturally arises: because you never know what cards another wizard might be holding.

But at the same time, another emotion was also coursing through my veins.

excited.

A wizard's power comes from knowledge.

So... wouldn't defeating another wizard mean that I have surpassed him academically?
The path we have chosen, the technology we have developed, and the system we have built have proven their superiority in actual combat.
This kind of proof is more thrilling than the destruction of a hundred indigenous civilizations.

The fear of death and the desire for academic victory intertwined, forming a fine current that surged up the spine to the back of the head.

Jemin took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but only made his exhaled air hotter.

He looked up and surveyed his surroundings.

really.

Not just myself.

On the vast assembly square at the ship's location, millions of wizards stood in silent ranks.

They wore colorful robes and accessories that shimmered with elemental light, with various magical artifacts floating beside them.

The wizards preferred quiet, so even with so many people present, there was no noise or commotion.

But Jemin can "see".

Those subtle tremors in their fingertips, those overly frequent adjustments to the position of the magical artifacts, those fleeting glints of sharp light deep within their pupils. An invisible pressure permeated the air—ripples created by the unconscious interplay of mental fields among millions of highly intelligent life forms under intense tension.

The entire plane is like a fully drawn bow.

"Jermin."

The voice came from the left, elegant with a subtle, almost imperceptible tremor of pleasure.

Senior Viola turned her head to look at him.

Today she was wearing a fitted witch's robe, her long hair styled into an exquisite bun, revealing her slender, fair neck.

On the surface, she remains the composed and elegant high-ranking witch.

But if you look closely, you'll notice that her right index finger is unconsciously tapping a crystal potion bottle at her waist, and deep within her silver-gray eyes, some emotion is quietly surging.

She raised her left hand, partially covering her lips to hide the involuntary upturn of her lips caused by excessive excitement, her gaze fixed intently on Jemin.

"You're going to fight in this outfit?"

Jemin looked down at himself.

The dark gray standard wizard robe is made of solid materials and enchanted with basic cleanliness, temperature control, and elemental resistance runes. It is considered above average quality in Norren Academy's workshops.

But compared to the wizards around him...

The person on the left is covered in armor plates of flowing liquid metal, each plate slowly deforming and refracting a rainbow-like halo.

The one on the right was enveloped by three nested transparent force fields, with countless miniature runes moving across the surface of the force fields, emitting a heart-stopping energy fluctuation.

Further away, some people had wings of light spread out behind them, some had rotating gear arrays under their feet, and some were almost completely enveloped in writhing biomass armor.

Elemental light burst forth across the plaza, illuminating the once-dark sky as if the aurora borealis had descended.

Jemin's attire was so simple it bordered on shabby.

“That’s enough,” he replied calmly, then raised his hand and placed it on his chest.

Ripples appeared on the surface of the wizard's robe.

Beneath the seemingly flat fabric, dozens of meticulously arranged slots emerge.

Jemin began to retrieve the magical artifacts from his inner sanctum.

One by one, the metal plates and crystal pieces of various shapes were skillfully inserted into the card slots by Jemin.

Five of them were placed on his chest, storing the [Return to the Void Armor].

Two on each side of the abdomen, this is the 【Tai Xu Bu】 (a type of martial art).

A [Acceleration] rune artifact is embedded in the collar.

Three dark red rhomboid crystals were fixed to the outside of each wrist, and each crystal contained five [Extinction of Fire Divine Light].

Once all installation was complete, the wizard's robe was smooth and undetectable.

Only Jemin himself could sense that the magical artifacts clinging to his skin were emitting faint but steady energy fluctuations, like a mechanical skeleton hidden beneath his clothing.

He knows his strengths and weaknesses.

In terms of the amount of conventional witchcraft he possesses, the depth of his understanding of fundamental laws, and the speed at which he can construct complex spells on the spot, he is currently likely no match for those wizards of the same level.

However, he possesses otherworldly knowledge from the [Great Dao Library] and a unique technique for fusing and transforming cultivation logic with wizard runes.

These magical artifacts are his advantage and source of confidence.

"The time is almost up."

A deep voice came from ahead.

Mentor Clark had turned around at some point, his eyes, which seemed to see through fate, swept over Jemin and Viola before finally settling on the spatial rift in the distance.

"Check your protective gear," Clark said succinctly. "The battle will begin the instant you enter."

Professor Clark's voice wasn't loud, but as soon as he finished speaking, Jemin and his companion tensed up to the extreme.

Almost simultaneously, millions of wizards began to act.

Some chanted softly, some quickly formed hand seals, and some directly activated pre-set trigger spells.

A surging torrent of elements erupted into the sky: fire, ice, lightning, gravity, light, sound, illusion, emotions...

Countless powers were briefly awakened, transforming into layers of shields, halos, force fields, and buffs, enveloping each wizard in a radiant battle formation.

(End of this chapter)