Startling Thunder

A string of "excellent" and "outstanding" results popped up like a rapid-fire barrage, and the old wizard's jaw nearly dropped onto the table.

The contemptuous smile on his face froze completely, replaced by utter horror and uncontrollable trembling.

Resistance to mental erosion and mind control had reached the level of a fourth-ring wizard?!

That was already close to the core resistances of some high-tier defensive constructs!

And the final few entries—corrosion resistance and curse resistance—had actually returned "Assessment exceeds the current instrument's range," along with a prompt stating, "Testing upgrade recommended"?!

This instrument was standard equipment capable of detecting the material resistances of anything below a fifth-ring wizard!

Th-this-this... How was that possible?!

The old wizard's strange reaction caught the attention of the other testing wizards nearby.

They crowded over. When they saw the two glaring "poor" ratings at the top of the results list, followed by a dazzling string of "excellent," "outstanding," and even "assessment exceeds range," the entire testing center instantly erupted!

"What the hell? What kind of material is this?!"

"How can its physical and energy resistance be so terrible, while its erosion resistance is so high? It makes no sense at all!"

"Beyond the instrument's range? This is at least a material a fifth-ring wizard could research, isn't it? Who submitted it?!"

"What's the submitter's name?! Is it some senior wizard? Why didn't they use the special channel?"

They all looked toward the crude label on the sample vial. It bore only the words—"White Iron-based Isolation Material"—and an apprentice number!

"An apprentice?!" Everyone froze.

A Wizard Apprentice?! Was this some kind of joke?!

A testing wizard who was only at the level of a first-ring formal wizard picked up the recording board with trembling hands, his voice cracking. "Quick! Go get the supervisor!!!"

The entire testing center fell into chaos. Every wizard gathered around, staring at those unremarkable chunks of white iron with shock, confusion, and disbelief in their eyes.

Some sharp-witted wizards had already secretly contacted their companions after seeing the results, telling them to stay ready to purchase isolation material under that number on the Magic Network.

Curse and corrosion resistance exceeding the fifth ring—materials of this grade were strictly controlled resources even in the Noren Workshop.

Isolation material?

What a monstrous waste of heaven's gifts!

Wouldn't material of this level be far better used to make defensive Wizard Artifacts?!

As for its weak physical and energy resistance... that had never been a problem!

After all, those were the two aspects of defense wizards excelled at most. They had no shortage of relevant protective measures.

In the endless Plane Wars, the greatest trouble wizards encountered was the erosion and harm caused by all manner of incomprehensible unknown forces.

The reason wizards of the Logistics Department had to follow the front lines was so they could constantly analyze the various special energies or substances within those planes and swiftly devise countermeasures.

Likewise, the greatest losses suffered by Logistics Department wizards came from the injuries sustained while researching such things.

And with this thing, unless one was cursed with utterly abysmal luck, it was like gaining another life!

More and more wizards realized this, and the messages they secretly sent outside grew increasingly frequent.

Thus, by the time the supervisor arrived, nearly every formal wizard in the entire Academy had become excited.

That night, an anonymous apprentice and an unremarkable piece of material cast a silent thunderclap deep within the Alchemy Workshop of Noren Academy.

Meanwhile, Benjamin, the focus of everyone's discussion, was still sweating profusely in some corner of the warehouse, "moving bricks" as he worked desperately for those few life-saving points.

He had no idea that his casual act of planting willows without intending shade had already stirred up such a tremendous upheaval within the Academy.

Warehouse No. 5 was thick with the mingled scent of dust and various ores.

The warehouse resembled a vast cavern, piled high with all kinds of raw materials.

Ore dust and the dry scent of plants drifted through the air. Sunlight streamed through several rune-glass openings in the ceiling, forming shafts of light in which countless tiny motes danced.

Benjamin wore protective gear. Along with several other apprentices, he had been assigned here, with piles of ores and plants heaped like small mountains before them.

They had to compare the materials against the Basic Materials Handbook, identify them one by one, sort them into different crates, then weigh and label them.

"Ugh, another physical labor job." One apprentice from the same cohort sighed and bent down to start moving ore.

"If it were just physical labor, that would be fine. Why do they make us identify the ores too? These things all look exactly the same!" Another apprentice lamented as well.

Benjamin said nothing. Once he had put on his protective gear, he joined in.

As he carefully identified the ores in his hands with mental power, he mechanically repeated the motions of sorting and weighing.

Suddenly, Benjamin paused. At the warehouse entrance, he saw Victor walking in with his task partner.

They seemed to have just finished a task as well and had come here to look for their next one.

Victor spotted Benjamin and the others carrying out their "sorting" task at once. However, he did not come over, instead leading his partner toward the task board's branch terminal inside the warehouse.

After a while, Benjamin heard Victor's voice from nearby.

Victor seemed to have found another decent-looking task and was persuading his partner.

"Look, this 'Test Energy Conductivity' task requires us to go to Energy Room No. 3... It's a bit out of the way, but the task itself isn't hard. We just need to operate a few instruments, and it gives twice as many points as sorting!" Victor's tone was enticing. "Don't keep doing manual labor all the time. Use your brain!"

His partner seemed somewhat hesitant. "The energy room... I heard the energy fluctuations there can sometimes be unstable..."

"It's fine! There are protective measures! Besides, if it's unstable, we can record more data. Maybe we can even write a little report for the mentor and leave a good impression?" Victor casually brushed aside his partner's concerns, his voice filled with the confidence of someone who believed, "You can't go wrong following me."

Listening to him, Benjamin curled his lip at the side.

He was certain that Victor had definitely accepted benefits from someone in the energy room. He was plainly here to fleece some gullible sucker.

Of course, calling it a scam was not quite right, since what Victor said was not wrong.

It was just that Victor had neglected to tell the unlucky fellow that most of the energy fluctuations tested in the energy room were rather discordant. They would not harm the body, but after the testing, two or three days of dizziness, headaches, nausea, and the urge to vomit were unavoidable.

Still, Benjamin had no intention of exposing him. After all, there was no deep hatred between them.