** Chapter 15: Essence Gold **

Before the machine, Jie Ming followed the others’ example, placing his apprentice badge on a detection array beneath it.

Soon, a screen of light displayed a wealth of information. Seeing the task details, far more comprehensive than those on the larger screen, Jie Ming felt a stir of emotion.

“This thing… it’s practically a ‘magic network,’ isn’t it? While commoners are still stuck in the Middle Ages, wizards have already stepped into a networked society.”

Given the wizards’ ability to conquer multiple planes, entering a networked society wasn’t particularly surprising.

“Let’s see…”

Jie Ming browsed his personal information and was shocked to find his points balance wasn’t zero.

“What’s going on?”

He stared at the six points in his account, puzzled. Thankfully, the transaction details explained the source.

“Since the period from the start of the term to next month is less than a full month, per the contract, a portion of the monthly ten-point allowance was refunded… damn!”

Jie Ming was genuinely stunned. The sheer resources required to refund so many students was staggering, and the academy’s actions left him in disbelief.

“They’re *this* generous? Even in my past life’s lawful society, how many organizations would do something like this?”

Amid his amazement, excitement surged within him.

It seemed wizards took contract rigor to a level beyond his expectations. Even if this was likely a tactic to win loyalty, Jie Ming couldn’t help feeling a sense of belonging.

“Willing to follow rules, and the rules are relatively fair— that’s enough to inspire trust…”

With a few startup points suddenly in hand, the pressure on Jie Ming eased significantly. He quickly searched for information on laboratory rentals.

“Small low-tier laboratory… ten hours for five points, but a whole month for just two hundred points. Damn, what a gap!”

Fortunately, his points were just enough.

Jie Ming casually left the machine, grabbed dinner at the apprentice cafeteria, and returned to his dorm.

Locking the door, he sat cross-legged on his bed, appearing to meditate, but his consciousness had already arrived before the Great Dao Book Pavilion.

A stream of light descended with his will, transforming into a book. Jie Ming grabbed it and flipped through it swiftly.

“I remember it’s here… got it!”

This was a foundational book on practice, detailing methods for extracting various materials.

On the page Jie Ming focused on, the text described a material called “Essence Gold.”

[*Metal, refined through a hundred temperings, yet there exists a secret method to extract its marrow from ten thousand catties of mundane gold, yielding the purest and strongest substance, named ‘Essence Gold.’ This material embodies the solidity of heaven and earth, containing the principle of eternal constancy, impervious to myriad laws and untouched by all evils. It is the supreme choice for crafting protective armor or treasures that hold vast spaces within the smallest grain.*]

In essence, from vast amounts of gold, one could extract a material called “Essence Gold,” which carried a concept of eternal immutability. Its properties were extraordinarily stable, nearly unaffected by any energy, making it ideal for crafting defensive or storage treasures.

Back then, Jie Ming’s cultivation hadn’t even reached the first layer of Qi Refinement, and though his family were small merchants, gathering enough gold for refining was a pipe dream. So, he had only skimmed the book.

Today, seeing a fist-sized lump of gold in his alchemy class, his first thought was of this.

“Let’s see… it’s difficult, but with enough tools, even a first-layer Qi Refinement cultivator could barely refine Essence Gold. The material loss is significant, though.”

The book also noted that Essence Gold was merely a basic spiritual material. With further refinement, it could become even higher-grade materials.

For Jie Ming’s current situation, refining Essence Gold was enough.

Carefully studying the method for refining Essence Gold, he suppressed his excitement and withdrew from his consciousness.

He picked up the crude gold block he’d crafted that day.

The block was heavy—too much for an ordinary person to lift with one hand.

But since mastering the basics of meditation, the elemental forces strengthening his spirit had also enhanced his body. Combined with the dual benefits of cultivation and meditation, lifting it was no trouble.

Fiddling with the gold block, Jie Ming put on the perfect expression of a country bumpkin seeing the world for the first time.

Secretly, he channeled his true essence, using the detection method from the Great Dao Book Pavilion to probe whether this gold, like that of the cultivation world, could be refined.

The results were thrilling: the gold’s structure was nearly identical to that of the cultivation world, capable of being refined into Essence Gold!

“Phew… I can’t rush this. The conditions aren’t fully ready yet…”

Calming his excitement, Jie Ming began pondering the potential benefits of this material and how to turn it into his first profit.

“But no matter what, I can’t neglect alchemy to better conceal this.”

Resolved, Jie Ming sat at his desk with the gold block, reviewing the basic alchemy handbook to solidify the foundational knowledge taught by Instructor Clark, while studying the complex metal alchemy disk.

For a while, Jie Ming fell into a seemingly monotonous routine:

During the day, he holed up in his dorm, studying alchemy theory and reshaping the gold block with alchemy. At night, when all was quiet, he meditated, cultivating in place of sleep.

Occasionally, he’d run into Amy at the cafeteria, maintaining just the right level of contact.

Amy always brought gossip and rumors from the academy, providing Jie Ming with valuable information.

After over ten days of this, once Jie Ming was confident in his mastery of Essence Gold refining, he began his true plan.

“Mr. Jie Ming, this is the laboratory you reserved. Per your request, it has a window facing the sunrise. From now until 6 a.m. tomorrow, this lab is yours.”

“Please note, the defensive arrays can only withstand spells below the first ring. Any damage will require compensation…”

A silver-white metallic golem prattled on about lab rules while opening a fully sealed metal door.

“…The lab is completely sealed. If anything goes wrong, no one outside will know, so please stay safe.”

“Got it, got it.”

Cutting off the golem’s chatter, Jie Ming swiftly shut the lab door.