Wizard: My career panel has no upper limit

Calling it a "palm" is not entirely accurate.

They looked more like five pillars wrapped in grayish-white leather, with suction cup-like circular organs at the ends.

After the palm comes the arm.

After the arms come the shoulders, torso, head...

A complete humanoid silhouette emerged from the dimensional rift.

It is over ten meters tall and its whole body is covered with rough, grayish-white leather.

Its head proportions are quite different from those of humans—the top of its skull is extremely narrow, almost cone-shaped.

The lower jaw is disproportionately wide, with two fan-shaped bony septa extending from both sides.

The detection results from ToolSpirit popped up:
[Detection complete: Echo Giant]
Source: Deep-sea region in outer dimensions (suspected to have a resonance channel with the ninth layer of the abyss)

Rank: Dark Sun
Core features:

A collective consciousness formed from the resentment of multiple drowned victims;

The skin possesses extremely strong resistance, making it virtually ineffective against physical attacks and elemental magic;
The suction cups can attract and fix the target soul, preventing it from escaping.
Weakness: Fire spells or Purify attacks

Research value: Medium
Danger Level: High

"A cluster consciousness..."

Ron sized up the giant.

It struggled under the binding of the summoning circle, each struggle causing the binding array to emit a piercing buzz.

The suction cups on those grayish-white fingers opened and closed continuously, making a teeth-grinding "tsk tsk" sound, like countless mouths eating at the same time.

"It has good combat value, but limited research value."

He made his decision without hesitation.

The doors of the [Threshold of Darkness] opened silently in mid-air.

A veil of chaos emerged and enveloped the giant entirely.

This struggle was more intense than the chunks of flesh and the condensation of fear; the suction cups frantically scratched at the surface of the veil, producing a sharp, glass-like scraping sound.

But the veil of chaos is like quicksand; the more you struggle, the deeper you sink.

The door closed.

"New prisoner, in custody."

Ron marked the crystal with a number and basic characteristics, then readjusted the array parameters and waited for the next visitor.

………………

The subsequent summoning density was significantly increased.

The directional filtering runes worked, automatically filtering out completely worthless "junk" and allowing only creatures that met the basic requirements to pass through the crack.

The fifth summons brought forth a creature resembling a giant bird.

Its wingspan exceeds ten meters, and each feather is a translucent dark red, like glass soaked in blood.

The head lacks a beak; instead, it features half a human face.

The right half is a normal human female face, even beautiful;
The left side, however, was bare skull and muscle tissue, with a constantly spinning black gem embedded in the eye socket.

The tool identified it as "Dream Eater".

It feeds on the dreams of intelligent beings and can drag the consciousness of its target into a "dream cocoon" that it has woven while the target is asleep.

Victims trapped in their cocoons gradually exhaust their mental strength in an endless cycle of nightmares, eventually becoming nothing more than empty shells.

"Mental attack methods are effective against vampires and wizards."

Ron assessed its strategic value.

The Dream Eater's direct combat power is not outstanding; at best, it is a mid-tier Dark Sun-class.

However, its "dream cocoon" ability can be more deadly than any direct attack in certain scenarios.

Then lock him in.

The next summoning attempt also encountered an unexpected turn of events.

The moment the dimensional rift tore open, every hair on Ron's body stood on end.

The surrounding air became viscous, and the flow of thought began to fluctuate irregularly.

One beat faster, half a beat slower, then two beats faster... it's like a piece of music whose rhythm has been maliciously altered.

"This feature..."

A memory that had been buried for decades was suddenly awakened in his mind.

The seventh level of the abyss, the Golden Ring assessment, an invisible monster slips out from the shadow of the "Mountain of Rotten Memories".

It was a "walking slow" mass, and wherever it passed, even the speed of light was forcibly reduced.

Neither "squares" nor "chains" could stop it.

"The Time-Devouring Leech?" Acelia recognized the aura at the same time: "No, not exactly the same... this one is stronger."

Her judgment was correct.

What emerged from the crack was not an amorphous "slow force field".

This time, the visitor had a clear profile.

If the word "clarity" could be used to describe a creature composed of countless superimposed "slices of time".

Its shape is very similar to a leech, and its body has an ambiguous texture that is between transparent and opaque.

But when you look closely, you will find that its body is actually made up of hundreds or thousands of extremely thin "cross-sections" stacked together.

Each cross-section records the leech's state at different points in time—young, adult, old, or even dead.

These states are presented simultaneously in the same body, like printing a roll of film by stacking the whole thing together from beginning to end.

The detection system of ToolSpirit almost crashed for three seconds before it could barely generate a report:

[Detection complete: Time-devouring leech (mature form)]

Source: Time Rift

Rank: Archmage
Key features: Time stealing; Slowing field
Weakness: Chaos-type attacks (the "disorderly" nature of chaos is inherently opposed to the "orderly" nature of time).
Additional explanation: This individual seems to be attracted by the traces of "time" remaining on the summoning circle.
Research value: Extremely high
Danger Level: Extremely High

During the Golden Ring assessment decades ago, he used Time Manipulation in the Chaotic Vortex region to reveal hidden paths.

Although the use was brief, it left an extremely faint mark.

In the broadcast of the interdimensional summoning, it was like a glimmer of light in a dark sea, precisely attracting this leech that feeds on "time".

"However, it is much stronger than the one from back then."

Ron stared at the leech, which was made up of countless slices of time superimposed on each other.

The one we encountered in the vortex region back then was just a larva of the Time-Devouring Leech.

The "slow field" alone put the entire team in dire straits, and he only managed to drive them away by his impromptu, gamble-like sonic resonance.

The mature form before them was slowly permeating the summoning array's restraints with its slowing force field.

The rune array is visibly aging, with the edges of the strokes weathering and peeling off, as if it has been eroded over hundreds of years.

"It's not about attacking or binding."

Ron immediately realized the essence of the problem:
"It consumes the time that the binding array exists."

“When those runes ‘lose’ the time after they were inscribed, they return to the state of ‘not yet created,’ which is to say, they disappear.”

This type of attack is almost impossible to defend against.

Because it bypasses all physical and magical defenses, attacking directly at "existence" itself.

Ron activated the three pillars of the Dark Threshold.

The Chaos Veil struck first, its purplish-black mist coiling around the creature like a giant python. The "disorderly" power it carried clashed violently with the "orderly plundering" nature of the Time-Devouring Leech.

The leech monster emitted an invisible tremor.

Everything within a few meters around experienced the simultaneous superposition of "the past second" and "the future second" at that moment.

Ron briefly saw a double image.

He saw himself reaching out, and at the same time he saw his hand already extended, retracting, and not yet raised.

Three time states coexist, like three semi-transparent photos superimposed on each other.

"Time reversal!"

Azalea sharply reminded herself from the depths of her consciousness.

Ron took a deep breath and poured all his mental energy into the node of the Chaos Veil.

The power of chaos erupted in full force, like a bucket of thick ink being poured into a clear lake.

The precise time structure is forcibly disrupted, shattered, and reassembled upon contact with chaos.

The body of the Time-Devouring Leech trembled violently.

The body, composed of countless time slices, begins to "disorder," with childhood slices and aging slices intertwined, and death slices and birth slices reversed.

It was stuck in its own timeline.

In this brief moment of imbalance, the doors were flung open.

The veil of chaos, along with the Time-devouring leech, disappeared into the dark depths behind the [Threshold of Darkness] gate.

The door closed.

Ron exhaled a breath of stale air and looked down at his hands.

On the back of my hand, there were several patches of skin that showed an eerie aging, marks left after being briefly touched by the slowing force field.

"Are you alright?" Acelia asked with some concern.

"It's nothing, it was just a few seconds of being 'eaten'."

Ron flexed his fingers, sensing the memory void left after his time was stolen:
"It was probably a few sips of tea this morning? I can't remember what happened in those few seconds."

"...just a few seconds of memory loss?"

"Yes, if we had been taken into custody 0.3 seconds later, it might have been more than just a few seconds."

Acelia remained silent.

After a while, she said calmly:
“I take back what I said before. You’re not just ‘going to kill yourself sooner or later,’ you’re ‘killing yourself right now.’”

Ron did not refute.

He marked the Time-Eating Leech with the highest danger level on the recording crystal and designated a separate "time isolation zone" for it in the space behind the [Dark Threshold] gate.

He forcibly set the flow of time within that region to "zero," that is, absolute stillness.

In absolute stillness, the Time-devouring Leech cannot steal any time, because there is no time flowing in that space at all.

If a fish is taken out of the water and thrown into a vacuum environment...

It may still be alive, but it can no longer swim.

………………

As the experiment progressed, Ron gradually figured out the pattern of this "otherworldly fishing".

The decoy effect of Chaos Crystal began to exhibit a periodic fluctuation.

During each peak period, the level and quality of the attracted creatures will significantly increase.

He began to precisely grasp these windows of opportunity, concentrating his efforts on summoning during peak periods and using the trough periods to organize data and rest.

The "cell" behind the door is also gradually being filled.

In addition to those already detained, the new "prisoners" include some individuals of great value:

Number 09: "Deep Cave Bard". An irregular sphere composed of mucus and bone fragments, about three meters in diameter, with bubbles constantly rising from its surface.

The musical sound produced when a bubble bursts can penetrate any physical barrier.

Stone walls, metal, shields—before this music, all obstacles seem to disappear.

Creatures exposed to music for extended periods will gradually lose their ability to distinguish between "self" and "other".

You can't distinguish which ideas are your own and which are someone else's;
I can't distinguish which memories are personal experiences and which were "implanted" into my mind.

Ultimately, the victim's self-awareness will be completely dissolved, becoming part of the melody.

Number 11: "The Egg with a Thousand Faces".

It is about the size of a fist, and its shell displays an ever-changing iridescent color.

The test results from the tool showed that an "incomplete species" was sealed inside the eggshell.

It hasn't hatched yet, but it has already completed millions of "self-evolutions" within the egg.

Each evolution overturns the previous result and redesigns a completely new physiological structure.

From single-celled to multicellular organisms, from arthropods to vertebrates, from carbon-based to silicon-based organisms...

It constantly “reinvents itself” inside the eggshell, but can never find a satisfactory form.

If this egg eventually hatches, no one knows what will be born.

It could be a harmless butterfly, or it could be a monster capable of destroying everything.

Ron placed it in the deepest isolation zone behind the door, next to the Time-Eating Leech.

Just as he was carefully checking the strength of the isolation, the communication array suddenly lit up.

He paused slightly when he saw the color of the flashing communication light; it was Chloe's exclusive frequency.

"Chloe?"

He connected the communication, and the blind witch's voice came from the magic circle.

His tone was as gentle as ever, implying a barely suppressed anxiety.

"Professor Ralph, I'm sorry to bother you."

Chloe got straight to the point:
"I've run into some trouble and need your help."

"What trouble?"

A rustling sound came from the communication array, as if Chloe was flipping through a document.

Do you still remember the world of black mist?

Ron certainly remembered.

According to Eve, it was a closed world governed by some ancient rules.

There, the key to survival is understanding and following the "rules".

Each rule seems absurd, yet it has absolute binding force.

Those who break the rules will be punished by the world itself.

The ones who carry out the punishments are the alien creatures that dwell throughout the Black Mist World.

"There is an elite anomaly in the Black Mist World that has troubled us for nearly twenty years."

Chloe's voice sounded weary: "We call it 'Number Seven'."

This codename made Ron raise an eyebrow.

In Chloe's previous descriptions, the anomalies in the Black Mist World were all named with "rule numbers".

Anomalies with low serial numbers often indicate that their danger level and scope of influence are extremely large.

Number seven... is almost one of the most challenging cataloging catalogs known.

"The core ability of this anomaly is to 'rewrite the rules'."

Chloe explained:

"All anomalies in the Black Mist World must abide by the established rules and framework."

They are both enforcers and prisoners of the rules.

"But 'Number Seven' is different; it can modify the content of existing rules within a certain range, and even create entirely new rules."

"This means..."

Ron immediately understood the seriousness of the problem:
“You can’t circumvent it by ‘following the rules,’ because the rules themselves are fluid in the face of it.”

"exactly."

Chloe's voice grew heavy:

“We have actually been playing a ‘rule game’ with it all along. Every time we find a security protocol, it will modify the rules to make it invalid.”

"We tried to blockade, we tried to lure and kill, we tried to join forces with other anomalous entities to encircle and annihilate them... all of them failed."

"In its most recent engagement, it amended the scope of Rule 19, causing the entire protective framework of the western residential area to collapse."

"The western district is currently under complete lockdown, but we can only hold out for a maximum of three more months."

She felt somewhat helpless:
"Given its unique properties, it is almost impossible to completely destroy it inside the Black Mist World."

"What I would like to ask you to do is... 'fish' it out."

Ron understood that the rules and framework within the Black Mist World granted "Number Seven" an almost invincible ability to rewrite them.

But the foundation of that ability is precisely the world of black mist itself.

Once it leaves the world of black mist, it loses the medium to "rewrite" the rules and framework that govern it.

If a programmer leaves his computer, no matter how advanced his programming skills are, he cannot modify the code out of thin air.

"You need a powerful enough summoning circle to forcibly extract it from the black mist world."

Ron nodded:

"Then, while it is no longer protected by the rules and regulations, we will imprison it."

"……Yes."

Chloe felt somewhat guilty:
"I know this request is presumptuous. Even if Number Seven loses its ability to rewrite rules, its true form is still an extremely dangerous anomaly."

"Summoning it into your experimental space rashly is very risky."

Ron laughed.

"Chloe, do you know what I've been doing lately?"

"...A cross-dimensional creature summoning?"

"That's right, there are already many otherworldly monsters locked up in the space behind my door."

"What's wrong with adding one more item to your collection?"

A brief silence came from the other end of the communication array, followed by Chloe's voice, which was suppressing a laugh:
"Professor... your method of collecting monsters doesn't sound like serious academic research."

"It's like a child collecting toys."

It's less about collecting toys and more like a card collecting game.

Thinking this, Ron replied:

"In the wizarding world, the difference between the two is sometimes not that big."

………………

The targeted summoning prepared for Chloe took an extra two days.

What makes Number Seven special is that it is not a free-roaming alien creature.

It was bound to the rules and framework of the Black Mist world, like a screw screwed into a machine.

To pull it out, you need more than just brute force; you need precise, atomic-level "loosening" techniques.

After repeated discussions, Ron and Chloe devised a meticulous step-by-step plan.

Step 1: Chloe will lure Number 7 into a pre-designed "weak point in the rules" inside the Black Mist World, that is, the edge area where the rule framework has a low density of coverage.

Step Two: Ron initiates a cross-dimensional summoning from the outside, using the lure effect of the Chaos Crystal to tear open a temporary rift at a weak point in the rules.

Step 3: Chloe uses her nascent form of the [Weaver Girl] to briefly interfere with the binding relationship between Number Seven and the rule framework.

Only she can do this step, because her ability is essentially to edit the "fate line," and there is a similarity in the underlying structure between the rule framework and the fate line.

Step 4: During the brief window when the binding relationship is interrupted, Ron's summoning circle forcibly pulls Number Seven into the grid space.

“That’s enough,” Ron replied after calculating all the parameters.

On the day of execution, everything proceeded as planned.

Chloe's seduction was flawless; her years of experience in combating the enemy made her intimately familiar with "Number Seven's" behavioral patterns.

The cracks opened, the binding was disrupted, and the summoning circle began to operate at full capacity.

Then, something that shouldn't exist in the material world was forcibly dragged out of its "homeland".

Its appearance briefly shook the "rules" of the entire grid space.

Ron clearly felt that, in that instant, all the settings he had carefully constructed, such as gravity, temperature, light, and atmospheric composition, were briefly disrupted, as if someone had randomly typed a few keys on a keyboard.

The direction of gravity shifted by 0.3 degrees, and the temperature fluctuated by 12 degrees in one second;

The color temperature of the light source changed from warm orange to cool blue, and then back to warm orange.

These changes are fleeting, but their very existence proves one thing:

Even though Number Seven has left the Black Mist World on which it depends for survival and lost the medium for rewriting, it still retains a certain affinity in its essence.

It may not be able to rewrite it for the time being, but it is naturally capable of sensing and interfering.

This is no different from a programmer who has lost his computer. Although he cannot program, he can accurately find the vulnerabilities in the code by looking at the printed documents.

"This research is of great value."

Ron stared at the guy in the center of the summoning circle.

Number Seven's form was not the terrifying monster he had imagined, nor some ethereal, non-physical entity.

It looks like an ordinary plaster statue, somewhat like the "Thinker" I saw in a museum in my past life.

The posture depicts a person writing at a desk, holding a pen in their right hand, pressing down on the paper with their left, head slightly lowered, focused and calm.

"Close it immediately."

After a brief observation, the door was opened wide.

As the veil of chaos enveloped the sculpture, Ron noticed a detail.

The moment the veil touched the surface of the sculpture, the pen in her hand paused for a moment.

It's as if it's trying to "rewrite" the rules of the veil of chaos.

But chaos is essentially disorder; you can't rewrite something that doesn't exist.

Just like you can't change the writing on a blank sheet of paper because there are no words on it.

The statue eventually gave up the attempt and was taken behind the door.

On the other end of the communication array, Chloe let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Professor. The residents of the West Side can finally go home."

"You're welcome."

Ron looked at the special space after the door closed, his tone relaxed:
"I've simply added an interesting new item to my collection."

After ending his communication with Chloe, he renumbered, categorized, and reinforced the cells of all the prisoners according to their level of danger, and then created a complete "inclusion list".

He leaned back in his chair, examining the list, a slight smile playing on his lips. (End of Chapter)