Translator: AnubisTL
Jieming fell into deep thought.
The first method was essentially out of the question. While the wizard civilization was highly advanced, eighth-tier wizards represented the absolute pinnacle of power.
As for ninth-tier wizards, such beings transcended even the concept of this world, existing entirely beyond the established limits.
Although there were a considerable number of eighth-tier wizards within the wizard civilization as a whole, these wizards typically served as attendants to ninth-tier wizards, actively expanding the civilization's territory on the true front lines of the planar battlefield.
Areas like Noren Academy—and indeed, the entire region under the jurisdiction of Noren Workshop—were merely scraps of scraps on the planar battlefield, barely qualifying as "bandit suppression" and more accurately described as "post-war reconstruction."
Therefore, relying on an eighth-tier wizard to deal with the enemy was unrealistic. Only the remaining two methods remained viable.
Weakening the plane origin was a standard approach, commonly employed by the academy. More importantly, this method could also intensify the war's ferocity to some extent.
As for the wizard apprentices lost in the process, they were simply considered a necessary sacrifice—a sentiment even the apprentices themselves wouldn't dispute.
It's no exaggeration to say that a single high-rank wizard is worth far more than tens of thousands of low-rank wizards.
Therefore, for the wizard civilization, the second method... was essentially a win-win situation.
As for the final method, the principle was quite simple.
Sixth-tier creatures could access the plane origin, provided the plane itself didn't resist.
In other words, if a sixth-tier creature was an outlander, it would face immense difficulty manipulating the plane origin unless it forcibly subjugated the entire plane.
However, a sixth-tier creature that ascended within the plane itself faced no such problem, even if it had originally been an outlander.
With just one person anchoring the plane origin, the other wizards could easily eliminate the enemy.
Yet even in the current wizard civilization, ascending to become a sixth-tier wizard remained extraordinarily difficult. The proportion of individuals who reached this rank in each generation was frighteningly low.
"Alright, I've said all I need to say," Mentor Clark said, patting Jieming on the shoulder.
"Rest for a bit, then get to work as soon as possible. Those returning fellows aren't known for their patience."
Having accepted the mission, Jieming returned to his laboratory in a daze.
He barely had time to complain or overthink. Almost as soon as he returned to his lab, tens of thousands of cubic meters of gold began arriving in batches, forming several small mountains in the storage warehouse.
For the next half-month, Jieming barely knew how he survived.
He had long mastered the adamantium refinement process. To avoid exhaustion, he built an efficient adamantium refinement assembly line, using the true flame from the Cultivation System as its core, supplemented by material processing and energy conduction arrays borrowed from Wizard Alchemy.
Jieming essentially embedded himself as the core component of the assembly line, his pale golden true flame burning ceaselessly day and night.
Blocks of gold were fed into the processing arrays, then moved into the true flame zone for refinement.
Vast amounts of true essence were continuously consumed, only to be replenished by Jieming.
His mental power, guided by alchemy, acted like invisible hands, precisely controlling every step: removing impurities and extracting the essence that represented the concept of adamantium.
Even with the assembly line's assistance, Jieming's ordeal over the past half-month had been brutal.
This wasn't just mentally taxing work that drained his spirit and true essence; it was also physically exhausting.
For half a month, he barely slept, only briefly meditating to recover when utterly exhausted.
Jieming continuously guzzled spirit recovery potions, to the point where he felt bloated.
After fifteen days, when the last batch of gold was processed and finally yielded a bar of adamantium glowing with restrained brilliance, Jieming finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He stumbled out of the laboratory, his eyes glazed over, and squinted against the sunlight.
His body felt completely drained, his eyes were bloodshot, and his hair was disheveled.
Only now did he understand why Mentor Clark, despite being a sixth-tier wizard, always looked so unkempt.
As he reached the edge of the plaza, he ran into Amy and Victor again.
They seemed to have just completed their mission and were about to leave.
"Jieming!" Amy exclaimed, spotting him. "Good heavens, what happened to you?! You look like you just crawled out of a mine!"
Victor also scrutinized him, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
Although Victor knew Jieming had taken on a major commission from the academy, he hadn't expected the workload to be so immense that it would exhaust even this usually composed individual.
"Just finished a big commission. I'm a bit tired," Jieming said, rubbing his temples, his voice slightly hoarse.
"Such a big commission..." Amy asked curiously. "What was it? How could it tire you out so much?"
"Processing some materials... It was grueling," Jieming replied, avoiding specifics.
Victor was also curious, but since he wasn't yet close to the two, he refrained from pressing further.
As he observed Jieming's exhausted state, a flicker of envy stirred within him.
Many wizard apprentices often pushed themselves to similar extremes, but only in Jieming did Victor see the shadow of a high-rank wizard.
At that moment, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: the farewell ceremony for the graduating apprentices was about to begin.
The trio didn't venture far. Along with the other apprentices, they stood at the edge of the plaza, watching the graduating class—those who had completed their ten years of study—approach the teleportation formation under the guidance of their mentors.
They were about to be sent to a frontline plane, to join the brutal planar battlefield.
"I wonder which plane this batch of seniors is being sent to," Amy murmured.
Victor glanced at her, recalling information he'd gleaned from casual conversations with his father:
"It's probably still the Shadow Plane. I heard that plane is really troublesome, so they'll likely need reinforcements."
"The Shadow Plane... That's really bad luck..." Amy muttered under her breath. "I heard the fighting there is incredibly fierce right now."
After all, given the average skill level of veteran apprentices from Noren Academy, ordinary planes could typically be conquered with just one cohort of apprentices. While the losses were significant, the campaign would inevitably produce several third-tier wizards or higher.
If a plane couldn't be taken by a single cohort, it meant that plane was exceptionally difficult to subdue.
"It's not all bad," Jieming countered. "At least the Shadow Plane's conditions are well-documented. They can adjust their Witchcraft Models and equipment beforehand. That's still safer than exploring a completely new plane."
As elite students who had undergone ten years of rigorous training at the academy, even if they were facing a highly intense battlefield, proper preparation would prevent them from being caught completely off guard.
(End of the Chapter)
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