Translator: AnubisTL
He paused, looking at Jieming with a hint of admiration in his eyes. "The academy hopes you can produce as much adamantium as possible. We can act as an intermediary to help you sell it. Of course, this service is free; all merit points earned from the sales will still belong to you."
"Sell it?" Jieming raised an eyebrow. "This is just the academy replenishing its reserves, isn't it?"
"You're not far off, though we're eliminating transaction fees and intermediaries," Mentor Clark nodded with dignified restraint.
After a moment's thought, he smiled, his gaze deepening. "The academy needs adamantium. Whether it's for supplying returning wizards or for our own reserves and research materials, the demand is constant. We provide the raw materials and distribution channels; you provide the technology and labor. This is a partnership."
Jieming pondered. "Roughly how much adamantium does the academy require?"
"Regarding that..." Clark avoided a direct answer, simply repeating, "The returning wizards are coming from the Shadow Plane."
Jieming's eyelid twitched, understanding Clark's implication.
In essence, he needed to prepare for an invasion of an entire world—the required amount of adamantium would be astronomical!
"Even if I worked myself to death, I couldn't complete this task!"
"You seem to overestimate your importance," Clark said with a sidelong glance.
"Who told you the academy relies entirely on you? You're just a small part of this war preparation system. Adamantium is only one component of our corrosion-resistant materials. The real war preparations depend on the high-rank wizards in the alchemy department... You don't need to do much—just exhaust the academy's material reserves."
Jieming blinked, pulled out his small personal magic net terminal, and logged in to check the academy's inventory.
Although the academy didn't know the exact method for producing adamantium, Jieming wasn't foolish enough to think they wouldn't know its primary raw material was gold.
Even though he always used other materials as camouflage, the fact that gold was the main ingredient was hardly a secret to the academy.
After just a quick glance at the academy's inventory, Jieming's hand trembled, nearly dropping the terminal.
Over ten thousand cubic meters of gold!
Even with his improved abilities, refining that much gold into adamantium in a short time would exhaust him to the point of collapse!
"...Is it too late to abandon this mission?"
"Absolutely not!" Clark's voice was unusually firm. "If you hadn't checked the inventory, you might have had a chance to back out. But now that you've seen the gold, there's no way I'm letting you escape!"
"Why not?!" Jieming asked, his face filled with confusion.
"Why not?"
Whether it was his imagination or not, Jieming thought Mentor Clark's smile looked somewhat sinister.
"Three days ago, the academy's gold reserves were barely a hundred cubic meters," Clark said, his voice low and menacing as he leaned closer to Jieming. "Gold is a common material with limited uses and difficult to collect. How do you think the academy managed to gather over ten thousand cubic meters in such a short time?"
Startled by Clark's sinister smile, Jieming instinctively took a step back and swallowed hard.
He glanced at the faint dark circles under Clark's eyes, then at the alchemy department badge pinned to his chest. Suddenly, Jieming understood:
"Al... alchemy?"
"Smart!"
Clark grinned savagely and suddenly reached out, grabbing Jieming's head.
Lifting Jieming like a chick, Clark pulled him close, his deep voice heavy with the exhaustion of a corporate drone:
"I was suddenly dragged out of the lab and forced to do manual labor for three whole days! If you dare abandon this mission, believe me, I'll refine you into gold!"
"Okay, okay, I get it! I understand everything now! I accept the mission!"
Jieming grabbed Mentor Clark's hand, which was gripping his head, his legs kicking helplessly.
Although Mentor Clark's grip was carefully controlled, Jieming could easily break free with a little effort.
But seeing the man's resentful expression and his determination to drag someone down with him, Jieming decided it was best to go along with it.
Besides, there was no real downside for him. The academy always purchased materials at market prices and provided the raw materials for free.
The only drawback was that accepting this mission meant he'd have to work harder for a while.
"Sigh..."
Watching Jieming suddenly lose all his energy, hanging limply from his hand like a salted fish, Mentor Clark's expression softened. He opened his fingers and released Jieming.
"Alright, stop sighing like that. This mission was issued by the academy through the workshop. If you complete it, you'll earn 10 military merit points. Tsk, tsk, tsk—this is a sweet deal! No one else has a chance to get this mission."
"Military merit?"
"Exactly, and high-rank military merit at that."
The moment Jieming heard those words, his eyes lit up, shedding his earlier listless demeanor. He straightened up, his entire being radiating renewed energy.
The military merit system was similar to the merit point system used at Noren Academy, though their values differed slightly.
When converted based on the value of redeemable resources and knowledge, the exchange rate between merit points within the Noren Workshop and low-rank military merit was approximately ten to one. For high-rank military merit, the rate could rise to one hundred to one.
The primary difference lay in the scope of redeemable resources and knowledge.
Noren Academy's merit point system was only valid within the Noren Workshop. Outside the workshop, other factions wouldn't recognize its value. In contrast, military merit had far broader applicability.
Low-rank military merit, issued by the Star Ring Federation, could be redeemed for resources throughout the entire federation.
High-rank military merit, issued by the Star Orbit Tribunal, could be redeemed across all major factions within the wizard civilization.
Ten points of high-rank military merit were equivalent to one thousand merit points. At that price, one could already redeem knowledge at the formal wizard level.
The wizard civilization, aside from the unique Star Orbit Tribunal, primarily consisted of four major factions, each with its own distinct ideology and representative technologies.
Under normal circumstances, these four factions weren't completely isolated from one another, but acquiring their specific technologies and rare materials remained exceedingly difficult.
For instance, Jieming had previously obtained a second-tier cultivation protocol that included a treaty allowing him to connect his sales channels to other faction territories.
However, in practice, the treaty's effectiveness proved rather limited.
When other factions made purchases, they typically relied on barter, and if Jieming sought to acquire unique resources, they would demand steep discounts. As for accessing the factions' internal, specialized knowledge, that was simply out of the question.
While the actual value of these military merits wasn't particularly high, they represented an additional option for Jieming.
Most importantly, high-rank wizards seeking to join the frontline campaigns were required to expend high-tier military merits to earn the necessary qualifications.
(End of the Chapter)
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Translator's Corner
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