A few days later.
Nolen 147 Academy, Jie Ming's private laboratory.
A silver-white teleportation light pillar descended, and the teleportation array at the center of the laboratory slowly lit up. A tall figure stepped out. A black-gold robe fell to her ankles, smooth silver-gray hair draped over her shoulders, and a familiar aura of laws spread like a tide. It was Viola.
As soon as she stepped out of the teleportation array, her gaze immediately fell on Jie Ming, who was standing before the experiment.
Their eyes met for only an instant, then Viola suddenly blinked.
Immediately after, as if she had discovered something extremely terrifying, she made an exaggerated motion of retreating two steps, even raising one hand to block her chest, her face full of vigilance: "Wait! You're not Jie Ming!"
She looked the figure before her up and down, her tone serious.
"This is a puppet. Who are you?! Hand over my junior!"
Hearing this, Jie Ming couldn't help but twitch his forehead: "I'm right here."
Viola shook her head with unusual firmness: "No! In my eyes, there's only a remotely controlled puppet here."
Jie Ming felt like he could hear his own teeth grinding: "...Are you done messing around?"
Viola was not intimidated by Jie Ming's tone at all. She crossed her arms and slowly walked around Jie Ming, clicking her tongue in wonder as she observed: "So... this is the experiment you said was harmless a few days ago."
"Are you really sure it's harmless? You don't even have a body now! Could it be that you called me here to announce your last wishes?" At this point, Viola suddenly got excited and even deliberately reached out to pat Jie Ming on the shoulder: "Don't worry, senior sister will take care of your lab, and you can safely leave your accounts to me to inherit!"
Jie Ming finally couldn't help but hold his forehead.
"Senior sister, I don't plan to die, and the situation I'm in now is caused by other reasons, not related to today's experiment." Viola raised an eyebrow, a clear look of disappointment on her face:
"Really?"
"Really."
"Not an experiment accident?"
"No."
"No loss of control?"
"No."
"Didn't refine yourself away?"
"...No!"
Seeing Jie Ming's increasingly dark expression, Viola finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha... Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you."
She laughed until her eyes curved: "But the way you look now is quite interesting. If not for your soul fluctuation still being yours, I would have thought you secretly switched people."
Jie Ming shook his head helplessly. It seemed this bad habit of his senior sister would never change.
He decided not to explain any further and simply turned to lead the way: "Follow me."
The two passed through an automatically opening metal partition door and came to the other side of the laboratory.
Here, it was much quieter than the main lab, with only the faint hum of the culture device in the air.
Three culture pods were in an open state, and three figures floated slowly in the pale green nutrient solution.
Seeing the people inside, Viola's steps immediately stopped.
Then, she blinked, slowly turned her head, and looked at Jie Ming.
"This is..."
Inside the culture pods, three Violas floated quietly.
Viola walked around the culture pods once.
Suddenly, she showed a look of sudden realization.
"I see." She nodded seriously. "I understand."
Jie Ming glanced at her.
"You wretch! What do you understand?"
Viola didn't care about Jie Ming's address at all. She reached out and patted the culture pod, speaking with a smile:
"So you wanted my life information to make puppets of me."
She suddenly leaned close to Jie Ming, her expression teasing:
"Why didn't you say so earlier? Why bother with secret research? Senior sister is right here, I can fully cooperate with you in person."
She even deliberately puffed out her chest, acting very generous:
"You can study anywhere."
Jie Ming: "..."
The veins on his forehead twitched slightly.
He suddenly felt that asking Viola to help with the experiment might have been his biggest mistake.
Taking a deep breath, Jie Ming decided to give up explaining.
Because the more he explained, the more excited this senior sister got.
Jie Ming simply pointed directly at the center of the laboratory, where a dark red array covering the entire floor had already been laid out. Countless complex patterns intertwined, and at the center was an independent platform.
"Stand there."
Viola followed his finger: "Hm? Go there?"
"Yes."
"Just stand?"
"Right."
Viola didn't hesitate and walked over with light steps.
As she walked, her mouth still didn't stop: "Oh my, I didn't expect your hobby to be so special."
"But seriously, if you're going to mass-produce me in the future, remember to make them pretty."
"Oh, and it's best to make the height a bit shorter; I like small builds."
She looked down at her own figure.
"Hmm... no need to change the rest, I'm very confident."
Jie Ming's mouth twitched slightly: "Senior sister, stand still, don't move."
"I know, I know." Viola raised her hands with a smile. "I'm very cooperative."
She stood at the center of the array, her body naturally relaxed, completely without any guard.
Jie Ming slowly closed his eyes, and his mental power instantly covered the entire experimental hall.
Hum...
The Blood Sacrifice Array slowly activated, and the dark red lines lit up one by one.
At the same time, the three culture pods automatically opened.
The nutrient solution quickly receded, and the three Viola clones at the rank-six bio-level slowly stood up.
Jie Ming extended his right hand and gently clenched it.
"Blood sacrifice."
Boom!
The entire array suddenly activated.
The bodies of the three clones began to decompose simultaneously, all turning into streams of bright red light that surged along the array patterns toward Viola at the center. The moment the blood sacrifice began, the playful smile on Viola's face vanished.
In her open eyes, runes rapidly appeared—her left eye turned dazzling gold, her right eye deep blue.
Almost simultaneously, Viola deployed dozens of detection sorceries, and even layers of rotating data light screens appeared around her, rapidly analyzing the situation.
Time slowly passed.
After a moment, the light on the array gradually extinguished, and the entire lab returned to silence.
Viola still stood there quietly with her eyes closed, not speaking. Jie Ming did not urge her, only waiting silently for her to process.
A few minutes later, Viola slowly opened her eyes.
The next instant, she practically pounced in front of Jie Ming, her eyes shining with astonishment:
"Jie Ming! You succeeded!"
Her voice was filled with undisguised delight: "This technique is amazing!"
Jie Ming's originally hanging heart finally relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face: "How were the effects?"
Viola took a deep breath, her tone excited.
"Excellent! Just now, my mental power increased by nearly thirty percent!"
She stretched out her hands, as if feeling the surging power within her.
"And there are no hidden dangers! Even the soul origin didn't show any instability; it feels like this mental power was meditated by myself."
"It's incredible!"
Viola grew more excited as she spoke: "This is no longer ordinary enhancement technology. If it were made public, the entire Star Ring Federation would be shaken. Those witches and wizards with insufficient mental power would probably fight to the death for it."
Jie Ming's smile slowly froze as Viola spoke: "...Ah?"