What is the reason?

Is it the inherent "energy consumption" of the process of time reversal itself, inevitably depleting the fundamental energy of the plane like friction generating heat?

Or is it the series of "paradox experiments" they conducted—especially storing this plane’s matter in an isolated temporal grotto heaven—that caused some subtle "tear" or "disturbance" to the world?

Jeming tended to believe the latter possibility.

The reason is straightforward: before their batch of reinforcements arrived, the vanguard led by Frost had already been fighting fiercely on this Reincarnation Plane for over a hundred cycles.

If every time reversal led to such significant attenuation, the signs would have been captured keenly by the wizards outside dozens of cycles ago, and not waited until now.

Of course, it might also be a result of the combination of the two factors.

That is, time reversal itself has minor consumption, and their experiments are like carving new marks on fragile glass, amplifying this effect.

"We need more data and long-term, systematic monitoring," Jeming admitted in the tactical meeting, "We lacked baseline records of environmental ’constants’ in the previous rounds, and the benchmarks established now are not stable. At least one or two complete cycles are needed to preliminarily judge the trend and rate of attenuation."

Frost agreed with this judgment.

He ordered the combat wizard sequence to continue maintaining pressure on the Reaper Race according to the existing strategy, while creating more experimental windows for research.

Logistics and research sequences were fully invested in the in-depth analysis of existing data and in perfecting the next round of more precise monitoring plans.

Besides all this busyness, Jeming himself had a more important verification to do.

He needed to see with his own eyes what those "samples" he collected into his Inner Grotto Heaven, originally existing in this plane, would become after time reversal.

Would they heal perfectly with the original, as if never cut?

Or would they leave indelible scars?

Or... would something even stranger happen?

He requested external exploration from Frost and submitted a detailed plan: revisiting the Reaper Race strongholds or battlefields where samples were abundantly collected according to coordinates and descriptions in the Record Crystal.

Frost didn’t oppose it either.

Seeking truth was the wizard’s vocation, not to mention it directly related to understanding the nature of the cycle.

He just proposed additional conditions for safety considerations.

"You can go, but you must have someone accompany you," Frost’s attitude was unquestionable, "Moreover, I will leave a ’Star Mark Alert’ on you."

He extended his index finger, the tip shining with a point of silver starlight condensed into substance.

Three points of starlight respectively entered the foreheads of Jeming and the two Sixth Level Wizards assigned to accompany him—Roland, who excelled in defense and energy manipulation, and Vivian, who specialized in reconnaissance and spatial concealment.

"This witchcraft can automatically resist an attack of Eighth Level intensity," Frost explained, "More importantly, whether triggered or not, as long as it breaks, I can instantly locate and reach you no matter how far apart. Do not stray too far from the limits of my perception range, understood?"

"Understood, commander," the three responded in unison.

Having checked the relevant Record Crystal, Jeming locked the first target at a deserted Reaper Race city over ten thousand kilometers away from the main base.

According to intelligence, this city was strategically abandoned at the beginning of the wizard invasion but later reoccupied by a Reaper Race reconnaissance unit and converted into a forward outpost.

In the last cycle’s medium-scale sweep battle, the wizard forces cleared this outpost, and the combat wizard "collected" more than a thousand complete corpses of First to Third Level low-level Reaper Race individuals.

These samples are now categorized in his Inner Grotto Heaven.

The sample sources were clear, coordinates precise, and the environment relatively simple, making it quite suitable as the first verification point.

To prevent any cyclic differences due to his experiment, at dawn the day after the battle ended, Jeming eagerly left the noisy camp with Roland and Vivian.

Roland raised an almost invisible Energy Shield that enveloped the three, not only for defense but also served as optical camouflage and a certain degree of aura concealment.

Vivian led the way, her figure sometimes clear and sometimes blurry, seemingly merging with the surrounding spatial fluctuations, constantly scouting for the best path and potential risks.

The three did not use long-distance teleportation, but advanced by high-speed flight combined with short-distance space jumps, to avoid attracting Reaper Race attention.

Along the way, the scenery was desolate and oppressive.

The land was littered with the scars left by battle.

Scorched pits, crystalline soil, twisted metal wreckage, and sporadically visible, already weathering under witchcraft, fragments of Reaper Race shells.

The air was filled with a faint energy radiation and an indescribable feeling of desolation, the breath precipitated by countless lives dying on the same piece of land.

"This land... surprisingly fragile," Vivian suddenly said softly, her spatial perception far sharper than ordinary people, "The ’resilience’ of space seems to be weakening, and the stability of certain places... is a bit off."

Jeming heard this, and his Spiritual Power carefully scanned the ground below.

Indeed, in some regions with particularly intense energy conflicts, the "fibers" of space seemed exceptionally fragile, as if they would tear easily.

Jeming rubbed his chin; the witchcraft used in the previous wizard battle certainly didn’t have this effect, so is it a problem with the plane itself?

Unable to think of a reason for now, Jeming could only suppress his doubts and continue following the two ahead.

After a half-day of rushing, the outline of the target city finally appeared on the horizon at dusk.

It was a nest-type city with distinct Reaper Race style.

Tall spiral towers made of biomass and minerals like giant cocoons with aerial corridors connecting the towers like a spider’s web.

The ground was densely filled with holes and passage entrances with unclear functions.

The entire city appeared in a deep brownish-black color, like a sleeping giant beast lying on the earth under the glow of sunset.

However, the city was terrifyingly silent at the moment.

No flying units patrolling, no movement on the ground, not even the originally pervasive pheromone network could be sensed as having active signals.

"The intelligence is correct, the enemy retreated very cleanly," Roland assessed, "Energy residue reactions are weak, no signs of large-scale life aggregation. But... be careful, there may still be sporadic residual individuals or automatic defense mechanisms."