Leaving Viola’s side, Jie Ming returned directly to his laboratory.

Click.

As the door locked behind him, the lab’s protective arrays activated, plunging the world into silence.

With a thought, Jie Ming carefully retrieved two spatial expansion pouches, stuffed to their limits from his time in the Frostflame Plane, and placed them in the center of the spacious lab.

Whoosh!

Guided by his mental energy, he tilted the pouches’ openings, unleashing a deluge like floodgates bursting open.

The next moment, countless items radiating a chilling aura poured out like a landslide or tsunami!

First came the snow monster cores.

Tens of thousands of ice crystal cores, each emanating pure ice elemental energy, piled into a glittering mound under the lab’s bright lights, their cold radiance lowering the room’s temperature by several degrees.

Next were the rare materials scavenged from the Frostflame Plane.

There was “Frost Essence,” shimmering like solidified moonlight; “Heart of Permafrost,” pulsing with the earth’s vein energy; and various unidentified ice-attributed metals and minerals dismantled from snow monster city structures.

These materials formed mountains, covering nearly half the lab’s floor.

Finally, scattered energy crystals and miscellaneous items followed.

Standing before this “iceberg” of wealth, Jie Ming’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

Instead of counting each item by hand, he activated his “All-Purpose Eye” and linked it to his magical network terminal, accessing the military merit exchange system’s “asset evaluation” function.

An invisible screen projected from the terminal, slowly scanning the piled materials.

Rows of data flashed across the screen, rapidly updating, categorizing, and appraising.

[Detected: ‘Grade 1 Snow Monster Core,’ Quantity: 98,452, Estimated Military Merit Exchange…]

[Detected: ‘Grade 2 Snow Monster Core,’ Quantity: 7, Estimated Military Merit Exchange…]

[Detected: ‘Frost Essence,’ Weight: Approx. 6.7 Tons, Quality: Superior, Estimated Military Merit Exchange…]

[Detected…]

The data streamed like a waterfall, culminating in a figure at the top of the screen that pleased Jie Ming.

“Total Valuation: 534,700 Military Merits.”

This was just the value of the quantifiable materials and energy crystals!

Next, Jie Ming pulled up his combat record from this mission—the glorious feat of wiping out an entire snow monster city.

Though most were only Grade 1 snow monsters, their sheer numbers more than compensated for their lower quality.

After the system’s automatic judgment and merit calculation, a substantial sum was credited to his account.

“Mission Merits: 138,900 Military Merits.”

If he sold the materials before him, the combined total from this haul would exceed 670,000 military merits!

This didn’t even account for the truly significant items, unquantifiable by military merits.

For instance, the “Grade 4 Lava Giant Corpse” lying silently in the depths of his spatial pouch, still radiating terrifying pressure, and the two gourds filled with a massive quantity of “Malignance Qi” of Mysterious Black quality!

“Phew…” Jie Ming let out a long breath.

This Frostflame Plane expedition had lived up to—surpassed, even—his expectations!

Thanks to an information advantage, the returns were unimaginable for an ordinary wizard.

This haul yanked him from the brink of “poverty,” restoring his ability to spend freely.

In the wizard world, wealth was a key measure of a wizard’s foundation.

A weak wizard might not lack money, but a powerful wizard was always wealthy.

An ordinary wizard apprentice’s total assets typically ranged from tens to thousands of points.

A qualified Grade 1 wizard might have assets in the tens of thousands, considered modestly wealthy.

Grade 2 wizards generally had assets in the hundreds of thousands, while Grade 3 wizards often amassed millions.

Military merit points were worth roughly one-tenth of the Noren Workshop’s standard “faction points.”

Thus, Jie Ming’s haul, convertible to military merits, was equivalent to 6.7 million faction points!

This was nearly the lifetime wealth of a long-established Grade 3 wizard!

Yet, after the initial excitement, Jie Ming compared this haul to the “Aging Gold” and “Mortal Dust Potion” that had once made his fortune, letting out a complex sigh.

“As expected, for wizards, even war is just a fleeting windfall. The most profitable and stable source is always the monopolistic benefits from knowledge.”

He knew this haul, though immense, was a one-time gain.

He couldn’t always encounter opportunities where high-grade forces withdrew, leaving him free to plunder.

Such chances were rare and fleeting.

But knowledge monetization was different.

Take his “Aging Gold” refinement technique from his apprentice days.

Though its niche properties rated it only as a “Grade 5 material” in wizard evaluations, it meant Jie Ming, as an apprentice, had mastered a proprietary technique rivaling a Grade 5 wizard’s core product!

Even as a raw material, its technical barrier and value were beyond low-grade wizards’ comprehension.

This was why, as an apprentice, he had amassed wealth that shamed countless official wizards.

“One-time plundering can never match sustainable monopolies.”

This extravagant haul only strengthened Jie Ming’s resolve to focus on knowledge research.

The 670,000 military merits, though vast, were a drop in the bucket for his future cultivation and experiments.

A single large-scale experiment could easily consume most of it.

True wealth lay in the unquantifiable.

“Pity so many wizards, dazzled by one-time gains, fail to see this… I should chat with Amy and Victor next time, hopefully steer them away from combat wizardry.”

With this realization, Jie Ming’s mindset settled.

He began sorting the materials, storing those useful to him separately and bundling the rest for merit exchange.

…

News spread quickly.

Soon after Jie Ming’s return, every wizard in the camp confirmed that Master Augustine, the expedition’s commander, would personally “pilot” the ship plane back to the junction point for reinforcements.

This meant the camp would lose its highest combat power for an extended period, and communication with the main plane’s leadership would be severely hampered.

To prevent issues during this time, the camp began a new round of construction and fortification.

Temporary defenses became permanent structures, energy hubs were reinforced against potential raids, and more advanced protective array nodes were built and activated.

Everything proceeded methodically to avoid mishaps during Augustine’s absence.

In this context, Jie Ming didn’t rush back into enemy territory.

With a massive influx of military merits, enough to sustain years of experiments, he was in no hurry.

He applied to the camp’s command for a task to build protective array nodes within the camp.

The task was moderate, providing steady merits while allowing him to research in his lab during downtime.

Beyond the abundance of merits, another key reason shifted his strategy—he realized he no longer needed to seek out “Mortal Dust Qi” deliberately!

Besides Augustine’s troop movements, news of the Frostflame Plane’s recent anomaly—the simultaneous withdrawal of both native races’ high-grade forces—had spread rapidly among the wizards.

These two pieces of intelligence, like a bombshell dropped into the seemingly calm camp, sparked endless speculation, unease, and worry about the future war.

Even rational wizards couldn’t resist discussing the situation.

Given its relevance to their safety, interest was heightened, leading to a surge in Mortal Dust Qi production.

Though still far from a normal sentient society, the output was now considerable.

“Is this anxiety? Fear? Or mental strain from speculating about the unknown?” Jie Ming mused in his lab, analyzing the sources of this Mortal Dust Qi.

The shift in output showed him that beneath the wizards’ calm facades lay volatile emotions, ready to erupt like a volcano.

At this rate, combined with the incoming thirty thousand reinforcements…

Jie Ming calculated silently. With his service time on the Frostflame Plane, he might gather enough Mortal Dust Qi.

Thus, the best strategy now was to consolidate his position in the camp and await developments.