Anonymous Masterpiece

Noren Academy's mission assessment center lay at the deepest point of the Academy's tenth underground level.

Sunlight never reached this place. Only mana lamps cast their cold glow.

Countless complex magical instruments operated with deep hums. The air was thick with the strange scent of mixed materials, richer and more chaotic than the smell of a laboratory.

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

As part of a wizard organization that ruled over multiple planes, Noren Academy also controlled several minor planes.

Moreover, as wizards who emerged from the Academy continually attacked new planes, the Academy received an enormous quantity of new materials every day, delivered through all manner of channels from different planes.

These materials had to undergo rigorous testing before their properties, grades, and potential uses could be determined.

The testing process was exceptionally detailed and cumbersome. Different materials required dozens or even hundreds of tests, including physical strength, energy conduction, Elemental Erosion, chemical reactions, stability, curse resistance, and more.

Even though the wizards here worked ceaselessly, the testing queue still often stretched to despairing lengths.

Due to a shortage of manpower, the problem remained unresolved despite the wizards' frequent protests.

Today, the wizard in charge of testing isolation-type materials—a gray-haired old man with wrinkles filling the corners of his eyes, a Level 1 Formal Wizard jokingly called "Resistance Barrier" by his colleagues—sat before his testing station as usual.

His job was to place every new sample of isolation material sent in into specific magical instruments and run them through a fixed testing procedure.

The work was dull and tedious. Mature materials produced by most high-level wizards would be sent directly for higher-grade testing or forwarded straight to the research departments.

Most of what passed through his hands were new creations developed by low-level wizards or apprentices. Such materials were often filled with all sorts of impractical fantasies, and their quality varied wildly.

"White Iron-based Isolation Material? Heh, another 'new type of isolation material.'" He habitually picked up a specially numbered sample bottle. Seeing its crude label, he could not help letting out a scornful laugh.

Inside the bottle were several utterly inconspicuous chunks of material, like ordinary white iron coated with a layer of gold dust.

He had long since grown used to such things.

These newcomers always thought that finding some seemingly unusual ore, or casually combining a few Alchemy materials, would let them cobble together some earth-shattering invention.

They even carefully concealed the materials' specific names, terrified that someone might steal their "exclusive formula."

Naive. The old wizard shook his head inwardly.

Leaving aside the restrictions imposed by the Academy contract on this work, no one would dare covet these research results in the first place.

As Formal Wizards, they possessed broader horizons and deeper knowledge. In their eyes, the things these apprentices cobbled together were like crude toys made by children. There was simply no need to steal their techniques.

Those so-called "formulas" might be riddled with errors in their eyes, perhaps even containing mistakes that violated basic Alchemy knowledge.

Though he grumbled inwardly, he still dutifully placed one of the material samples into a large testing instrument and activated the standard testing procedure.

This was the rigor befitting a wizard, cultivated through years of experimentation. Even when faced with a hopeless result, he would still follow the procedure.

The instrument began to operate. Runes lit up, and waves of energy scanned the material's interior.

"Beginning basic testing. Resistance to physical impact... blunt-force impact... grade: inferior..."

Listening to the voice issuing from the instrument, the old wizard lowered his head and recorded the results as he always did, without even looking up.

Before long, the series of physical resistance tests came to an end, and the final result appeared on the instrument's screen.

[Physical impact resistance: Inferior]

"As expected."

He curled his lip and placed the material into another instrument to continue the testing.

"Energy impact resistance..."

[Energy impact resistance: Inferior]

"Ha! Just as I thought." Seeing that the first two results were both inferior, the old wizard's expectations fell completely to zero.

In truth, he had already sensed something when he saw the material's specific structure. Clearly, the only thing that could truly be effective was that golden substance on the surface, while the rest of the basic structure relied entirely on white iron for support.

He had initially held some hope for this thing's energy resistance, but it seemed he had been overthinking it.

Its resistance to both physical and energy impacts was low, which meant there had to be problems with its basic structure and energy conduction pattern.

Unless it displayed astonishing resistance to erosion, this material was certain to be judged as waste.

"Next are the erosion resistance tests... first, Elemental Erosion resistance..." He pressed the button and initiated the next round of testing.

With both its physical and energy resistance rated inferior, it would need to reach at least the level of a one-ring Formal Wizard in erosion resistance before it could barely be considered "usable."

To draw attention, it would need to reach the standards of a two-ring or even three-ring wizard.

But such requirements were already exceedingly harsh even for Formal Wizards. For material developed by an apprentice, they were nearly impossible to achieve.

Yet just as he waited for the result with that thought in mind, the testing instrument emitted a faint but crisp notification.

The result was out.

[Elemental Erosion resistance: Excellent! Assessment: Equivalent to the level of a three-ring Formal Wizard!]

Perhaps it was an illusion, but even the instrument's announcement seemed somewhat impassioned.

The old wizard's hand jerked violently, and he nearly dropped the recording slate in his hand!

"What?!" He abruptly raised his head and stared at the testing instrument's screen in disbelief.

Excellent? Three-ring level?!

He rubbed his eyes, thinking he had misread it.

He had worked this testing job for decades. He had seen countless materials and had tested the research results of some Formal Wizards.

Elemental Erosion resistance at the level of a three-ring wizard was something even the works of most Level 2 Wizards might not achieve!

And this was the test result for a material whose submitter's name was marked so crudely, a material that looked like scrap white iron?!

This result alone was enough to draw the attention of Formal Wizards, even if every other test came back inferior!

Yet his shock had come too soon.

"Corrosion resistance..." A new test result immediately popped up.

[Mental erosion resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Equivalent to the level of a four-ring Formal Wizard!]

[Mind-control resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Equivalent to the level of a four-ring Formal Wizard!]

[Corrosion resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Beyond the range of the current instrument! Testing upgrade recommended!]

[Curse resistance: Exceptional! Assessment: Beyond the range of the current instrument! Testing upgrade recommended!]