**Chapter 20: An Anonymous Masterpiece**

The task inspection center at Noren Academy was located in the deepest part of the underground tenth floor.

It never saw sunlight, illuminated only by the cold glow of magic energy lamps.

Countless complex magical instruments hummed softly, and the air was thick with the peculiar, intense smell of mixed materials, far stronger than in the laboratories.

This was one of the busiest areas in the entire workshop.

As part of a wizard organization ruling multiple planes, Noren Academy controlled several smaller planes.

With wizards from the academy constantly conquering new planes, the academy received a flood of new materials daily from various sources.

These materials required rigorous testing to determine their properties, grades, and potential uses.

The inspection process was meticulous and tedious, involving dozens or even hundreds of tests for physical strength, energy conductivity, elemental erosion, chemical reactions, stability, curse resistance, and more.

Even with wizards working tirelessly, the inspection queue was often despairingly long.

Due to a shortage of manpower, despite frequent complaints, the issue remained unresolved.

Today, the wizard responsible for testing insulating materials—a gray-haired, wrinkle-eyed elder nicknamed “Resistance Bastion,” a Level One Formal Wizard—sat at his inspection station as usual.

His job was to place new insulating material samples into specific magical instruments and run a standard testing protocol.

The work was dull and repetitive. Most mature materials from senior wizards went straight to higher-level testing or research departments.

What he handled were mostly new creations from low-level wizards or apprentices—often filled with unrealistic ambitions and wildly varying quality.

“White Iron-Based Insulating Material? Hmph, another ‘new insulating material.’” He picked up a sample bottle with a crude label and scoffed mockingly.

The bottle contained a few unremarkable pieces, looking like ordinary white iron coated with a layer of gold dust.

He’d seen this kind of thing countless times.

These newcomers always thought they could create groundbreaking inventions by stumbling upon some odd ore or haphazardly mixing alchemical materials.

They’d even cautiously obscure the material’s exact name, fearing others might steal their “exclusive formula.”

“Naive,” the old wizard thought, shaking his head.

Not only was this work bound by academy contracts, making theft impossible, but with their broader knowledge and deeper expertise, formal wizards saw these apprentice creations as childish toys—not worth stealing.

Their so-called “formulas” were often riddled with errors, sometimes even violating basic alchemical principles.

Though he grumbled inwardly, he dutifully placed a sample into a large testing instrument and started the standard procedure.

This was the rigor of a wizard honed by years of experimentation, adhering to protocol even for hopeless cases.

The instrument hummed to life, runes glowing as energy waves scanned the material’s interior.

“Beginning basic test, physical impact resistance… blunt force impact… grade: inferior…”

Hearing the instrument’s report, the old wizard recorded the results without looking up, as expected.

Soon, a series of physical resistance tests concluded, and the final result appeared on the instrument’s screen.

[Physical Impact Resistance: Inferior]

“As expected,” he muttered, pursing his lips and moving the material to another instrument for further testing.

“Energy impact resistance…”

[Energy Impact Resistance: Inferior]

“Hah! No surprise there.” Seeing both initial results as inferior, his expectations hit rock bottom.

He’d already had a hunch when he saw the material’s structure. Clearly, the gold-like substance was the only active component, with the rest relying on white iron for support.

He’d held some hope for its energy resistance, but now it seemed he’d overestimated it.

With poor physical and energy resistance, the material’s structure and energy conduction were obviously flawed.

Unless it performed exceptionally in erosion resistance, it was destined to be deemed useless.

“Next, erosion resistance tests… starting with elemental erosion…” He pressed the button to begin the next round.

With inferior physical and energy resistance, it would need to reach at least a Level One Formal Wizard’s standard in erosion resistance to be considered “usable.”

To garner attention, it would need to match a Level Two or even Level Three Wizard’s standard.

But that was a tall order even for formal wizards, nearly impossible for an apprentice’s creation.

Yet, as he waited with these thoughts, the instrument emitted a soft but crisp chime.

The results were in.

[Elemental Erosion Resistance: Superior! Assessment: Equivalent to a Level Three Formal Wizard!]

Whether it was his imagination or not, the instrument’s voice seemed almost excited.

The old wizard’s hand trembled, nearly dropping his record board!

“What?!” He snapped his head up, staring at the screen in disbelief.

Superior? Level Three?!

He rubbed his eyes, thinking he’d misread.

In his decades of testing, he’d seen countless materials, including some from formal wizards.

A Level Three Wizard’s elemental erosion resistance was something even most Level Two Wizards’ works couldn’t achieve!

And this came from a crudely labeled, white iron-like material?

This single result, even if every other test was inferior, was enough to draw formal wizards’ attention!

But his shock came too soon.

“Corrosion resistance…” The next results followed swiftly.

[Mental Erosion Resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Equivalent to a Level Four Formal Wizard!]

[Mind Control Resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Equivalent to a Level Four Formal Wizard!]

[Corrosion Resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Exceeds current instrument range! Recommend advanced testing!]

[Curse Resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Exceeds current instrument range! Recommend advanced testing!]