A New Beginning

Benjamin had been living quite comfortably lately.

Not only had he cleared his name and solved his biggest problem, but he had also gained greater privileges.

Although, according to Mentor Clark, the Level Two Training Agreement did not provide tangible points or material rewards, it did make things vastly more convenient in other respects. Various applications, for instance, received the green light all the way through.

Approval for establishing a laboratory came through quickly as well. Benjamin had originally planned to rent a low-level laboratory long-term, but after discovering that the laboratory establishment permit came with rental discounts, he decisively chose a mid-level laboratory instead.

Compared with a low-level laboratory, a mid-level laboratory was not only larger, better equipped with protective facilities, and more complete in its apparatus, but more importantly, it also came with numerous rest rooms and even free delivery service. Food could be ordered directly from the cafeteria.

In other words, if the renter wished, they could live in the laboratory indefinitely.

In fact, many wizards did exactly that. After all, a single research project took at least two or three months, and at most several years.

Aside from necessary socializing, formal wizards basically ate and slept in their laboratories.

For Benjamin, who needed to cultivate beneath the rising sun every morning, this could not have been more suitable.

As for why he rented only a mid-level laboratory rather than a high-level one, it was mainly because high-level laboratories were simply too expensive!

Depending on the specifications, low-level laboratories cost anywhere from 200 to 1,000 points per month.

Mid-level laboratories started at 2,000 points, while high-level laboratories cost no less than 20,000 points a month.

Benjamin had thought that once he could freely sell Adamantine, his points would be quite abundant. Instead, reality dealt him such a crushing blow that he nearly shut himself away again.

First came the issue of earning points by selling Adamantine. Although the restrictions had been lifted, and something as valuable as Adamantine was practically bought out the moment it went up for sale, Benjamin had never expected the quantity of raw materials to become the bottleneck holding him back.

After all, gold was not particularly useful to wizards. Other than serving as a basic teaching material, it was only occasionally needed for making specialized equipment.

Although the Academy could mobilize all the resources of Noren's thirteen planes and dozens of surrounding minor planes, it had never paid much attention to collecting gold before. As a result, the Academy's gold reserves amounted to a mere twenty-three cubic meters.

And after Benjamin had bought it all out this time, replenishing the gold supply would take some time.

In other words, the Adamantine refined from those twenty-three cubic meters of gold would be his primary source of points for the near future.

Since more than ninety percent of gold's mass was consumed during the refinement of Adamantine, the output was not particularly high either.

In the end, after more than a month of work, Benjamin finally refined over ten standard units of Adamantine from that pile of gold.

Considering that Adamantine itself was also an excellent material for crafting equipment and isolation, Benjamin kept just under half for his future experiments and development, selling only ten standard units.

According to the Academy's appraisal, pure Adamantine counted as a Level Five material.

After referring to the prices of several other Level Five materials, Benjamin ultimately sold all of it at the standard price of 10,000 points per unit.

"I only made a tiny ten-thousandfold profit. I'm far too conscientious."

Benjamin smugly crossed one leg over the other in the luxurious, soft chair inside his laboratory.

Although a year's rent for the mid-level laboratory had taken 20,000 points in one go, the remaining 80,000 points were still enough for him to splurge for quite a while.

With that thought, Benjamin pressed his hand against the desk before him, and a screen of light rose before his eyes.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... As expected of a mid-level laboratory. The Magic Network Terminal's technological level has skyrocketed."

If the Magic Network Terminal in a low-level laboratory was still on the level of an old CRT monitor, then the one in a mid-level laboratory had skipped straight past LCD displays and entered the realm of futuristic projection.

"Should I buy a few advanced knowledge courses to indulge myself first? Come on, let me see the limits of Wizard Civilization!!!"

Smack!

Benjamin suddenly slapped the desk and shut off the light screen before him, falling into deep thought.

"Hiss... Did I open it wrong?"

He reopened the Magic Network Terminal. Looking at the string of zeroes displayed in the price column, Benjamin felt his head throbbing.

"Forget it, forget it. Those are too far beyond me. I'd better honestly learn some basic knowledge first."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Benjamin swiped over to the elementary knowledge section. Following his previous plans, he purchased additional courses and related basic textbooks in Runology and Potions Department.

After buying the things he needed, Benjamin began considering what to do next.

"Knowledge from two worlds is an advantage to me, but it also brings some trouble. First, I need to confirm the differences between the two worlds. Only then can I smoothly transplant the Cultivation World's knowledge over here."

His fingers unconsciously traced circles on the tabletop. "As for the differences between the two worlds, aside from the most fundamental world laws, the most important should be the differences in the composition of matter and energy..."

Differences in energy could be studied through comparisons between different extraordinary powers. Benjamin himself was a ready-made, excellent test subject.

As for differences in laws, the runes he would soon study and the Alchemy he was currently learning could help him understand the underlying framework of the Wizard World's laws. The Great Dao Library could help him understand the Immortal Cultivation World's laws for comparison, so there was no need to worry about that for the moment.

"The first two require an accumulation of knowledge, so there's no way to speed them up much for now. That leaves... differences in matter. Alchemy Studies and Potions Department can gradually build up knowledge in this area through future study, but that doesn't mean there's no way to accelerate it..."

Benjamin's gaze instinctively shifted toward the laboratory warehouse. Inside were various miscellaneous materials he had bought along with the gold, all to conceal Adamantine's exact formula.

The Great Dao Library held an exceptionally complete collection of material-related knowledge. Moreover, if he wanted to further understand a certain material, the Great Dao Library could provide a phantom image of similar materials for him to examine deep within his consciousness.

Therefore, if he wanted to further speed up the analysis of the differences between the two worlds, he could start with materials from the Wizard World.

As an educational institution, Noren Academy happened to possess exactly such conditions.

With that thought, Benjamin confidently opened the Academy Magic Network's materials exchange section, preparing to purchase in large quantities.

However, when he truly began browsing and calculating, he discovered another despairing fact.

Wizard Civilization was a powerful existence that had conquered countless planes.

Every conquered plane brought entirely new lifeforms, entirely new environments, entirely new mineral deposits, and entirely new plants.

The varieties of materials here were astronomical, and new materials were discovered and recorded almost every moment.

Basic Materials Illustrated Guide, Extraplanar Materials Index, Encyclopedia of Minerals, Mutated Plant Lineages... Materials-related information on ordinary materials alone piled up like mountains, while the actual varieties of existing materials numbered countless times more than that.