Translator: AnubisTL
After completing his survey of the floating continent's remaining ecosystems and resource reserves, Jieming flashed through the now-stable spatial rift above, returning to the ship plane.
As Jieming landed, the snow monsters guarding the spatial rift bowed respectfully.
Wizard Augustine never wasted resources. Having confirmed the situation, he had promptly signed contracts with the two monster kings.
Having witnessed the wizards' manipulation of the ship plane and the Flamefrost Plane in battle, the two monster races now regarded wizards with a mixture of awe and servility.
Jieming paid them no mind. He strode directly to the logistics office in the temporary camp and uploaded all the information he had gathered over the past few months to the core database via the terminal.
Having completed his mission, Jieming was about to take a short break.
As he left the logistics office, he noticed a crowd of people gathered around an open space in the camp, buzzing with discussion.
Curious, he joined the onlookers and discovered that at the center of the camp, surrounded by a group of wizards, was a massive magical formation shimmering with arcane runes.
After examining it, Jieming recognized the formation as a spatial coordinate provider.
Just then, a notification from Master Augustine appeared on his magic net terminal: "Attention, wizards! The planar passage has been established. Welcome our colleagues from afar!"
Moments later, as the formation glowed with a soft light, concentric spatial ripples began to emanate from its center.
The sky of the ship plane was once again torn open by an invisible force.
However, this time, the rift didn't lead to some unknown plane, but rather to dozens of figures of varying shapes and sizes.
These figures were much smaller than the narrow rift in the sky, which had been stable but not designed for large-scale group teleportation.
Yet Jieming noticed that the figures seemed to be struggling to squeeze through, as if they were being blocked by something larger.
The massive spatial rift seemed impassable, as if an even larger entity loomed behind the shadowy figures.
Several of the figures erupted with overwhelming power, their combined efforts forcibly widening the rift.
Under their combined assault, the spatial rift in the sky was brutally stretched to a staggering scale—tens of kilometers long and several kilometers wide.
Only then could the group of shadowy figures barely squeeze through.
The moment the wizards crossed the spatial rift and "descended" onto the ship plane, several suffocatingly powerful auras instantly flooded the entire realm.
The chaotic surge of elemental fluctuations and the oppressive aura of cosmic laws instantly made Jieming realize: these were all sixth-tier wizards!
Some of the auras were so intense they likely belonged to seventh-tier wizards!
"Tsk, look at these lunatics, all with the same ravenous look as wolves spotting fresh meat," Viola remarked, materializing from some nearby corner. She clicked her tongue, her silver-gray eyes gleaming with amusement as she watched the spectacle unfold.
Before Jieming could ask, Viola explained the situation in a calm tone:
"After news spread that Wizard Augustine had successfully captured a living plane, the junction point nearly exploded. Countless wizards, especially those focused on plane research and rule exploration, frantically applied to study this rare living plane."
Jieming's eyes flickered with interest. "Oh? So Wizard Augustine has struck gold."
Viola sighed, her voice tinged with a mix of complexity and resignation. "Indeed. Developing a plane is typically a massive initial investment. Many ordinary sixth-tier wizards need to accumulate debts of hundreds of millions of military merits just to barely complete the preliminary development of a plane."
She gazed at Wizard Augustine in the distance, a hint of suppressed envy in her voice. "But with a rare resource like a living plane, Wizard Augustine could potentially recoup his entire initial investment—and even turn a profit—simply by charging admission tickets to these wizards!"
Jieming also sighed, though a hint of regret lingered in his heart.
A living plane was such a rare and precious resource that he doubted he would encounter another one anytime soon.
Unfortunately, the outer perimeter of the Flamefrost Plane's core was covered in a dense layer of maple leaf-shaped, translucent runes.
These runes formed a powerful isolation force field that not only sealed the living plane's consciousness but also blocked external attempts to probe it.
Without Wizard Augustine's explicit permission, no one could access the core, let alone conduct research on it.
Moreover, given his current level of skill, he couldn't even approach the runes, let alone make contact with the core. He lacked the ability to study such a high-level entity.
As a low-rank wizard, he was still far from reaching the realm where he could freely interact with and research plane cores.
Jieming suddenly felt a pang of curiosity. He turned to Viola and asked, "Senior Sister, why did you come here?"
Considering Viola's personality, she would normally have no interest in such a spectacle, unless it involved causing widespread pain.
Viola was about to answer when a familiar voice cut in, answering Jieming's question for her.
"Because... I'm here to take her back and make her repay her debts properly."
Jieming whirled around to see Mentor Clark standing behind them!
Clark looked as disheveled as ever, his signature messy hair seeming even thinner than before. He still carried the weary air of a seasoned workhorse, dark circles under his eyes as if he'd just crawled out of a laboratory.
Hearing his words, Viola couldn't help but sigh. Knowing escape was impossible, she explained to Jieming with a hint of resignation, "Back then... I had to take out a loan from my mentor to buy that soul ascension potion!"
The frustration and helplessness in her voice nearly overflowed. "The price was... having to work for him for over a thousand years! It's practically indentured servitude!"
Clark glanced at her expressionlessly. "Given your earning potential, making you work for a thousand years is a perfectly reasonable price."
He paused, then added, "Of course, you've only just advanced to a sixth-tier wizard. If you refine your potionology skills further and become a potion grandmaster, that work period could probably be reduced to under a hundred years."
Viola groaned, and even Jieming couldn't help but shrink back.
Even if the debt were reduced to a hundred years, it would still be an astronomical sum—a debt beyond comprehension for Jieming!
Recalling his own debt to his teacher, Jieming immediately felt a sense of camaraderie with his senior sister.
He suddenly understood: Mentor Clark had come here to capture Viola, the "priceless" sixth-tier wizard, and drag her back to be his workhorse!
Mentor Clark turned to Jieming, nodding in greeting.
Jieming straightened his robes and bowed solemnly to Mentor Clark. "Mentor..."
"Hmm, not bad," Clark replied with a slight nod. "To encounter such a situation on your first independent mission... your luck is truly enviable."
Jieming smiled awkwardly, unsure how to respond.
While this might be considered good fortune for a high-level wizard, for a low-rank wizard like himself, it felt more like misfortune.
Clark ignored Jieming's inner thoughts and glanced at the high-rank wizards still descending from the sky.
"Besides researching the living plane, I'm here at Augustine's invitation to help install a cross-dimensional spatial teleportation array. It seems we'll be working together for some time."
Jieming's face lit up at the news, but then he suddenly remembered: if that were the case, wouldn't he have to "repay his debt" all over again?
The problem was that while the wizards could still provide a steady stream of Red Dust Power, the quantity wasn't particularly large.
Based on the collection results from the past few months, it would be quite difficult to consistently produce two vials of Red Dust Magic Potion each month.
Thinking this, Jieming couldn't help but grind his teeth, his expression darkening slightly.
Clark seemed to read his thoughts and chuckled. "Don't worry. At least until the spatial teleportation array is repaired, you won't have to worry about your debt."
Ignoring Jieming's relieved expression, Mentor Clark deftly grabbed Viola by the back of her collar, as if she were a chick.
Ignoring Viola's helpless struggles and resigned gaze, Clark simply lifted her and strode toward Wizard Augustine, who had been waiting nearby, his face practically splitting with a grin.
Jieming clicked his tongue, hunched his shoulders, and hurried away.
It was clear that before returning to school to become Mentor Clark's "workhorse," Viola would first have to spend a considerable amount of time here, working as Clark's assistant to earn "interest" on her debt.
If Jieming didn't quickly gather the resources to repay his debt, he might end up as another workhorse like Viola.
(End of the Chapter)
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