Arriving in front of the machine, Jeming imitated what others were doing, placing his Apprentice Badge onto a Detection Array beneath the machine.
Soon, a myriad of information appeared on the light screen in front of him. Seeing the task information even more detailed than that on the big screen, Jeming felt a bit emotional.
"This thing could already be called the 'Magic Net', right? Although common folk are still in the medieval era, wizards have already entered the network society."
Considering the wizards' ability to fight across Multi-Dimensional Planes, entering a network society wasn't too surprising.
"Let me see..."
Jeming first browsed through his personal information and was soon surprised to find his points balance was not zero.
"What's going on?"
Jeming looked at the six points in his account, a bit puzzled, but was relieved to find detailed information about the source of these points in the income details.
"Since the time between the start of school and next month is less than a month, part of the ten-point monthly deficit was refunded according to the contract... What the hell?"
This really shocked Jeming. Not to mention how many resources it would take to refund the deficit for so many students, the mere act of the school doing this was somewhat unbelievable to him.
"To be this generous, such a thing... even in a law-abiding society of my past life, there wouldn't be many organizations willing to do this, right?"
Besides his amazement, Jeming also felt a surge of excitement inside.
It seems the wizards have exceeded his imagination in the strictness of contracts, even though Jeming knew it was likely a method for the academy to win people over, he couldn't help but feel a sense of recognition.
"Willing to abide by the rules, and the rules are relatively fair, it's indeed enough to make one feel a sense of agreement..."
Suddenly gaining a bit of starting points, the pressure on Jeming reduced significantly, and he quickly started searching for information about lab rentals.
"A small low-level laboratory... renting for 10 hours costs five points, but renting for a month only costs two hundred points, geez! That's a big difference!"
Fortunately, his points were just enough for now.
Jeming nonchalantly left the machine, first going to the apprentice cafeteria for dinner, and then returning to his dorm.
Closing the door, Jeming sat cross-legged on his bed, seemingly entering meditation, but in fact, his consciousness had arrived at the entrance of the Great Dao Book Pavilion.
A stream of light fell to the front with his will, and Jeming grabbed the book transformed from the light, rapidly searching through it.
"I remember it being here... got it!"
This was a basic practice book, mainly recording various material extraction methods.
On the page Jeming was interested in, the content described a material called "Refined Gold".
[As for gold, it is the essence of hundreds of refinements, but there exists a secret technique that allows the refining of its essence from ten thousand taels of ordinary gold, obtaining the purest and most solid, known as "Refined Gold". This material bears the solidity of heaven and earth, contains the principle of constancy, and is highly resistant to any energy, making it an excellent choice for casting protective armor and Magical Treasures that hold vastness within the minutiae.]
The approximate meaning of this passage is: a material called "Refined Gold" can be extracted from a large amount of gold, and to some extent, this material embodies the concept of eternity, its properties are extremely stable, and it is hardly affected by any energy, making it excellent material for refining defensive and storage-type Magical Treasures.
However, at that time Jeming's cultivation hadn't even broken through to Qi Cultivation First Layer, and although his family was a small merchant, thinking about taking out a massive amount of gold for refining was just wishful thinking, so he only flipped through this book casually.
After seeing a fist-sized lump of gold in the Alchemy class today, this was his first reaction.
"Let me see... Although it's difficult, if there's sufficient equipment support, even a Qi Cultivation First Layer cultivation can barely refine Refined Gold, though the material loss is a bit large."
Furthermore, based on the book, Refined Gold is only the most basic Spiritual Material; it can also be further refined into other higher-level materials.
But given Jeming's current situation, just refining Refined Gold would be enough.
After carefully studying the Refinement method of Refined Gold, Jeming forcefully quelled his excitement and exited from the depths of his consciousness.
He reached out to grasp the ugly golden cube he had just made today.
Such a large chunk of gold was quite heavy, and it wasn't easy for an ordinary person to pick it up with one hand.
But after entering the Meditation Method, while Elemental Power enhanced Spiritual Power, it also inadvertently strengthened the bodies of Wizard Apprentices; furthermore, with Jeming benefiting from the dual gains of Cultivation Immortality Method and Meditation Method, lifting it wasn't that troublesome.
He continuously manipulated the golden cube with both hands, displaying a perfectly fitting expression of a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.
Inwardly, Jeming mobilized the True Essence within himself, using the detection method he learned from the Great Dao Book Pavilion, to probe if this piece of gold could be refined like those in the Cultivation Immortality World.
The result was delightful. From the probing result, the structure of gold in both worlds was very similar, and they could both be refined into Refined Gold!
"Phew... I can't be too hasty; the conditions aren't perfected yet..."
Calming down his excitement, Jeming began contemplating the benefits this material could bring him and how he could use it to earn his first pot of gold.
"But no matter what, to better cover this up, I can't neglect Alchemy."
Determined, Jeming sat back at the desk with the gold block, consolidating various foundational knowledge Professor Clark lectured in class today using the Basic Alchemy Manual, and studying the intricate Metal Alchemy Disc.
In the following period, Jeming repeated this seemingly monotonous and procedural life:
During the day, he cozied up in his dorm, studying Alchemy theory and attempting to reshape the golden block using Alchemy; at night, he meditated in the quiet of the night, replacing sleep with cultivation.
Occasionally, he would bump into Amy at the cafeteria, maintaining just the right amount of contact with her.
Amy would always bring various academy gossip and rumors, providing Jeming with quite a few valuable pieces of information.
This routine went on for over ten days until Jeming was confident he had completely mastered the Refined Gold refinement technique, and then he began to undertake his real plan.
"Mr. Jeming, here's the laboratory you previously reserved for rental. Based on your requirements, the lab has a window facing the rising sun, and it's yours from now until 6 AM the next day."
"Please note, the Defense Array inside the lab can only fend off First Ring Magic. If damage occurs, compensation will be required..."
A silver-white metal Demonic Puppet, endlessly reciting various lab rules, opened a fully enclosed metal door.
"...The lab is completely sealed, so if anything goes wrong, others won't know, so please be cautious about your safety."
"Okay, okay, got it."
Not waiting for the Demonic Puppet to continue rambling, Jeming promptly shut the lab door.