I, a cultivator, have ended up in the wizarding world.

Chapter 289 Crimson Gold and Graduation

In his office, as Jemin was secretly shaking his head at his student Anita, a slightly mocking voice quietly appeared at the door.

"Hey~ my dear junior, I can smell the fresh 'pain' emanating from you from afar! How's it going, being a mentor for the first time, how does it feel to be beaten down by reality?"

Senior Viola, like a shark that has smelled blood, strolled in uninvited, a smug smile on her face.

Jay glanced at her, then said irritably, "Senior, is your happiness always built on my 'pain'?"

“Of course not entirely, my happiness is built on everyone’s suffering!” Viola waved her hand dramatically, then shared enthusiastically.

"Speaking of which, I'm reminded of my two precious students! When they discovered that potion-making wasn't as romantic as they'd imagined, but rather an endless process of material handling, tedious ratio calculations, and the constant risk of furnace explosions, the look of despair on their faces, yet their forced compulsion... tsk tsk, it provided me with a source of amusement for quite some time!"

She changed the subject, looking at Jemin expectantly: "So, junior, next time you teach that little girl named Anita, you absolutely must let me know! I want to find a good spot and really savor the pain and confusion she exudes as she struggles in the ocean of dry knowledge! Just thinking about it is exhilarating!"

After saying that, without waiting for Jieming's agreement, she let out a series of "hehehehe" laughs, turned around and left the office with satisfaction, as if she had only come here to reap a wave of happiness.

As Jemin watched Viola's departing figure, the helplessness on his face gradually faded, replaced by a gentle smile.

"That pervert..." he muttered under his breath, but a warmth filled his heart.

He knew perfectly well that Viola was expressing her concern for him in her slightly distorted way, and also trying to lighten the mood.

Her interruption helped Jemin's frustration dissipate considerably.

He sat back down in his chair, his thoughts becoming clearer.

“That’s enough. Everyone has their own choices and paths.” His thoughts became clearer. “All I can do is fulfill my duty as a mentor and present the knowledge clearly. As for how much she can absorb and which path she takes, that is ultimately her own destiny.”

With his current knowledge and level of expertise, guiding an apprentice who isn't even a formal wizard would be a piece of cake.

As for how well she performs, that depends on her own abilities.

Having figured this out, Jieming's mindset completely calmed down.

In the following years, his life did not change much because he had another student.

Aside from needing to go to the academy every week to teach Anita a basic alchemy class, he still devoted most of his energy to his research.

Anita's performance, as expected, did not exceed Jemin's initial expectations.

The initial stages of alchemy, with its extensive memorization of basic theories, tedious identification of material properties, and meticulous operations requiring extreme patience, quickly became tedious and boring for her.

Her enthusiasm for learning visibly waned, and she devoted more attention and hard-earned points to learning aggressive or functional witchcraft that had immediate and impressive effects.

Several times, Jemin saw her at the academy excitedly practicing newly learned witchcraft with her companions, or exchanging points for a ready-made witchcraft model, and then burying herself in practicing casting techniques.

In his classes, he has repeatedly and directly reminded people: "Relying on ready-made witchcraft models that do not know how to optimize their roots is like walking with a cane made by someone else. It may be easy in the early stages, but you will never truly understand the essence of power, and it will be difficult to go further."

Unfortunately, his warnings went unheard.

Anita may have listened, but she clearly didn't take it to heart.

Or rather, given her current level of "intelligence" and interests, independently researching, understanding, and constructing a witchcraft model suitable for herself would indeed be an extremely difficult and uninteresting task.

“After all, not everyone is a genius like Amy and Victor…” As Jemin observed from the shadows, he couldn’t help but shake his head again, a touch of nostalgia for his old friends passing through his mind.

Even with Amy and Victor's talent, they were considered among the best in the academy back then.

In contrast, Jemin's own research was progressing exceptionally smoothly.

After completing the third stage of energy transformation in the Purgatory Sulfur Plane, the abundant energy finally allowed him to unleash his full potential.

The hatching speed of the Black Giants increased significantly, and their population began to grow steadily.

He predicted that when the next interdimensional war was needed, the number of black giants under his command would likely exceed one thousand!
This means he will have a sizable and powerful heavy ground cannon fodder legion.

Meanwhile, research on various unusual biological samples brought back from the spatial plane is also progressing as planned.

Through in-depth analysis of their flight structure, energy utilization methods, and spatial adaptability, Jemin already had a clear blueprint in mind for the design of the next generation of cannon fodder units.

However, he has a more pressing improvement plan right now: to reforge his natal magic weapon, the "Five Elements Rainbow Mirror," for the second time!

After years of accumulation, most of the rare materials needed for refining have been prepared, with only the last and most crucial one missing—red gold.

"Red gold... the refining of this stuff is truly a painstaking process." Jemin's consciousness sat cross-legged in front of the Great Dao Library deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, holding a book that exuded an ancient Daoist charm, carefully reading the records about the refining of red gold.

According to ancient texts, pure gold and refined gold are similar conceptual materials refined from gold as a basic raw material.

However, the core "concepts" they extract are completely different.

Refined gold, extracted from the concept of "eternity" in gold, emphasizes "unchanging" and "eternal," thus endowing objects with indestructible properties. However, overemphasizing "eternity and immutability" can sometimes limit the future growth and potential for change of magical artifacts.

Red gold, on the other hand, is refined from the concept of "immortality" of gold.

Immortality is not simply about remaining unchanged forever; it focuses more on "the indestructibility of essence" and "the enduring existence of true nature."

Even if its form or nature changes, its core "existence" and "essence" can still be maintained, and it can even be reborn in the process of change.

For a magical artifact like the "Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror," which is a material for refining various illusory "lights," the concept of "immortality" is far more fitting than "eternity," leaving ample room for its future evolution and advancement.

The difficulty lies in the "purity" of the extract.

The initial refining method for red gold is surprisingly simple, just like that for refined gold; even cultivators in the Qi Refining stage can master it.

With his Golden Core cultivation level and the precise control of energy and matter through wizard alchemy, completing the rough refining was a piece of cake.

The real trouble lies in the subsequent purification.

Because only the concept of "immortality" is needed, other concepts mixed in with the initially refined gold, and even most of the material properties of gold itself, must be gradually removed through repeated high-intensity quenching.

This is a process that requires a great deal of patience and energy.

According to ancient texts, it takes at least ten refining processes to obtain a nearly conceptualized pure gold material.

"The technical difficulty isn't high; it's just time-consuming and laborious." Jemin withdrew from his inner vision and returned to the core laboratory of the Purgatory Sulfur Plane.

Looking at the mountain of standard gold ingots piled up in front of him, radiating a dazzling golden light, he made a judgment: "Fortunately, I don't lack time right now."

According to ancient records, the quality of the pure gold will continue to decrease during the refining process. In order to ensure that there are enough raw materials for the second refining of the magic weapon, Jieming directly prepared 1,000 cubic meters of gold!
Activating the large-scale composite alchemy array that had been set up beforehand, Jemin began the first step of the rough refining process.

The powerful alchemical fire intertwined with the energy of the alchemy array, causing massive amounts of gold to melt and boil at the center of the array.

The concept of "immortality" was forcibly extracted and condensed into pieces of dark red, peculiarly textured primary pure gold.

Then, he merged all the primary red gold and put it into another, more complex formation focused on "purification" in the cultivation system, and began a second refinement.

As the array activated, light flowed, and the primary red gold began to slowly "evaporate" under the scouring of energy, separating and expelling "impurities," including unwanted concepts and material residues.

The remaining parts became deeper in color and their texture seemed purer.

He knew that this process needed to be repeated at least ten times.

The later the process, the more difficult the purification becomes, and the spiritual energy and time required increase exponentially.

"Fortunately, this thing can run automatically most of the time. I only need to replenish the spiritual energy and adjust the array parameters periodically... so it won't waste too much of my time."

After setting up the monitoring alarms, Jemin focused his attention back on other research.

……

……

Time slips away like sand through your fingers.

Before they knew it, it was time for the graduation of this year's students at Norren Academy 147.

The atmosphere in the square was solemn and slightly tense.

Jemin hovered on the high platform in the mentors' viewing area, his gaze calmly sweeping over the crowd below, easily finding that familiar yet unfamiliar figure—Anita Chuck.

Ten years of college life did not leave many traces of transformation on her.

Instead, because she devoted too much energy to those seemingly cool but actually unstable witchcraft, her progress in the field of alchemy, which requires a solid foundation and rigorous thinking, was slow, and she even regressed in some aspects.

The result is no doubt.

When Dean Avery Knight read out the list of those who had passed the graduation trials and qualified to participate in the elite selection in a calm yet authoritative tone, Anita's name did not appear.

She stood among the crowd who had failed to get through, head down, hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes, shoulders trembling slightly, seemingly unable to accept this reality.

The wizards standing with her had the same reaction; the air around them seemed to freeze with disappointment and resentment.

According to the rules of Norren Workshop, apprentices who fail the graduation trial are not necessarily cut off from the path of becoming wizards.

They still have a chance—to go to the front lines of the interdimensional war, to serve in the military, and to find a breakthrough opportunity in the life-and-death test of blood and fire, or... to sink and perish.

(End of this chapter)