He paused, looking at Jeming with a hint of appreciation in his eyes: "The Academy hopes you can produce as much refined gold as possible. The Academy can act as a middleman to help you sell it. Of course, this is a free service, and all the points gained from selling the refined gold will still belong to you."

"Selling?" Jeming raised an eyebrow, "The Academy's operation is basically replenishing their stock."

"If that's how you want to understand it, it's close enough, just without the service fees and intermediate steps." Professor Clark nodded reservedly.

After thinking for a bit, he smiled again, his gaze deep: "The Academy needs refined gold. Whether it's to supply returning wizards or as reserves and research materials for the Academy itself, it's needed. The Academy provides raw materials and channels, and you provide the technology and labor, this is a collaboration."

Jeming pondered: "Roughly how much refined gold does the Academy need?"

"Regarding this..." Clark didn't answer directly, instead, he repeated, "The returning wizards this time are coming back from the Shadow Plane."

Jeming's eyelid twitched, understanding Professor Clark's implication.

In simple terms, he needed to prepare for an assault on an entire plane, and the required amount of refined gold was astronomical!

"I can't complete this task even if it kills me!"

"You're overestimating yourself a bit." Clark glanced at him.

"Who said the Academy is relying entirely on you? You're just a small part of this preparedness system, and refined gold is just a small part of the anti-corrosion materials. The real preparedness mainly relies on the High Tier Wizards of the Alchemy Element to do the work... You don't need to do much, just consume the Academy's stock of materials."

Jeming blinked, took out a pocket-sized Magic Network Terminal, and logged into the Magic Net to check.

Although the Academy didn't know the method of refined gold production, Jeming wasn't naive enough to think people at the Academy wouldn't know the primary raw material for refined gold.

Even though he would arrange for many other materials to cover it each time, the fact that gold was the main raw material was certainly no secret to the Academy.

Just by glancing at the school stock, Jeming's hand shook, almost dropping the terminal.

Tens of thousands of cubic meters of gold!

Even with his increased strength, refining so much gold into refined gold in a short time would be exhausting!

"... Is it still too late to give up this task now?"

"Absolutely not!" Clark's tone was unusually firm, "If you hadn't checked the stock, you might have had the option to give up, but now that you've seen it, there's no way we'll let you run away!"

"Why?!" Jeming looked puzzled.

"Why?"

Perhaps it was an illusion, but Jeming once felt that Professor Clark's smile seemed a bit "cunning."

"Three days ago, the school's gold reserves were just over a hundred cubic meters." He approached Jeming with a sinister smile, "Gold, being a common material with little use and difficult to collect, how do you think the Academy managed to gather tens of thousands of cubic meters for you in such a short time?"

Frightened by Clark's smile, Jeming subconsciously stepped back, swallowing hard.

Glancing at the dark circles under the other's eyes and then at the Alchemy Element emblem hanging on his chest, Jeming suddenly understood:

"Al...Alchemy?"

"Smart!"

Clark "snickered" and suddenly reached out, grabbing Jeming's head.

Lifting Jeming like a chick in front of him, Clark's low voice was filled with the exhaustion of a corporate worker:

"I was suddenly pulled out of the lab to do hard labor for three days straight. If you dare to give up this task, believe it or not, I'll refine you into gold!!!"

"Okay, okay, I get it! I understand everything! I'll take on this task!"

Jeming grabbed Clark's hand holding his head with both hands, his legs helplessly flailing.

Although Clark's grasp was very measured, and Jeming could break free with a bit of effort.

But looking at Clark's face full of resentment and intent to drag him into the waters, Jeming thought it better to go along with him.

Moreover, this matter wasn't harmful to him anyway, as the Academy makes purchases at market price and provides raw materials for free.

It's just that taking on this task will probably mean a tough time ahead.

"Sigh..."

Seeing Jeming, who seemed to have had all his strength drained, hanging limply like dried fish from his hand, Clark's expression relaxed, and he let his fingers open, releasing Jeming.

"Alright, stop sighing like that. This task is published by the Academy through the Workshop. If you complete it, you can earn 10 points of military merits. Tsk, tsk, tsk, it's a lucrative deal, and others don't even have the connections to take it."

"Military merits?"

"Indeed, and it's High Tier Military Merits."

Hearing this term, Jeming's eyes lit up, losing his previous lazy demeanor, becoming energetic.

The military merits system and the points system used in Nolun Academy are similar, and although there are differences in value, they aren't particularly large.

If you convert based on the value of exchanging resources and knowledge, the exchange ratio between the Workshop's internal points and Low Tier Military Merits is roughly ten to one, while for High Tier Military Merits it can increase to a hundred to one.

The main difference between them is in the range of resources and knowledge they can exchange for.

The Nolun Academy's points system can only be used within the Nolun Workshop, and once outside, other forces do not acknowledge it, whereas the military merits have a broader usage range.

Low Level Military Merits, issued by the Star Ring Federation, can be used to exchange resources throughout the Federation.

If issued by the Star Orbit Arbitration Court, High Tier Military Merits can be used to exchange in every major faction within the Wizard Civilization's camps.

10 points of High Tier Military Merits can exchange for the equivalent of 1000 points, and at that price, one can trade for some knowledge at the Official Wizard Level.

Aside from the most unique Star Orbit Arbitration Court, the Wizard Civilization primarily consists of four major camps, each with its own ideologies and representative technologies.

Under normal circumstances, the four camps are not completely disconnected, but acquiring corresponding technologies and special materials is quite difficult.

Like when Jeming previously obtained a Second Level Cultivation Agreement, it had provisions to help connect him to sales channels for other faction influences.

But practically speaking, the effect of this agreement was rather average.

Other factions usually trade via barter, and should you want to purchase some unique materials, prices would be greatly undervalued, not to mention that acquiring exclusive knowledge from within those factions is out of the question.

These military merits aren't tremendously high in value practically, but they give Jeming more options.

Most importantly, if a High Tier Wizard wishes to go to the frontline, they must spend High Tier Military Merits to qualify for it.

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