He paused, looking at Benjamin with a trace of approval in his eyes. "The Academy hopes you can manufacture as much Adamantine as possible. The Academy can act as an intermediary to sell it for you. Of course, this is a free service. All points earned from selling the Adamantine will still belong to you."
"Sell it?" Benjamin raised a brow. "Isn't the Academy basically replenishing its inventory with this?"
"You could understand it that way. It just cuts out the handling fees and the middle steps." Mentor Clark nodded reservedly.
After thinking for a moment, he smiled again, his gaze profound. "The Academy needs Adamantine. Whether to supply the returning wizards or as reserves and research material for the Academy itself, it is needed. The Academy provides the raw materials and channels; you provide the technology and labor. This is cooperation."
Benjamin pondered this. "Roughly how much Adamantine does the Academy need?"
"About that..." Clark did not answer directly, merely repeating, "These returning wizards came back from the Shadow Plane."
Benjamin's eyelid twitched. He understood what Mentor Clark meant.
Put bluntly, they were preparing to attack an entire world. The amount of Adamantine required was simply astronomical!
"Even if you work me to death, I can't finish a task like this!"
"You think a little too highly of yourself." Clark shot him a glance.
"Who told you the Academy was relying entirely on you? You're only a small part of this war-preparedness system, and Adamantine is only a small part of the anti-corrosion materials. The real preparations still depend mainly on the high-ranking wizards of the Alchemy Department... You don't need to do that much. Just use up the materials in the Academy's inventory."
Benjamin blinked, pulled out a miniature portable Magic Network Terminal, and logged into the Magic