Translator: AnubisTL
After updating their current rank information and submitting the gathered intelligence, the trio emerged from the rune tower at the camp's center.
As soon as they stepped outside, Amy couldn't help but sigh. "Well, this truly is a 'trial'."
Jieming, Victor, and Amy found a relatively secluded corner. Occasionally, figures in wizard's robes hurried past, and the camp buzzed with a unique sense of urgency, as if every wizard were racing against time.
However, this atmosphere only deepened the trio's frustration.
"So, these are our permissions?" Victor frowned, his voice tinged with resentment. "We can resupply, trade materials, even leave... but we can't accept missions. This means we're still stuck stumbling around like blind cats, hoping to bump into targets. It's incredibly inefficient."
Amy's spirits also dampened. "Exactly. Even with our advancement to first-tier wizards, we're just making a small splash on the front lines. The enemies we can defeat might earn us contribution points, but they're barely a drop in the bucket compared to the scale of the entire planar war."
Jieming remained silent, having already considered this issue.
For first-tier wizards like them, the most effective path to advancement typically involved infiltrating the various towns and nations of the Elosia Plane. By employing covert wizardry, they could steal intelligence and uncover the plane's deeper knowledge.
Such information was crucial for the workshop's strategic planning and naturally yielded substantial contribution points.
However, the current problem was that ordinary Elosian intelligence and knowledge—such as basic language, customs, geography, and the openly known distribution of power—had already been thoroughly collected by the wizards who had entered the plane earlier.
To obtain more profound insights, they would need to infiltrate the plane's core, high-level regions, even penetrating temples or imperial palaces.
Yet Jieming and his two companions were not specialized infiltration or intelligence wizards; they lacked expertise in such high-stakes covert operations.
Moreover, for wizards skilled in research like them, the most suitable way to contribute was to remain behind the frontlines, studying the novel materials and transcendent knowledge related to this plane that were sent back from the front.
They could explore its useful applications or seek methods to suppress the plane's transcendents.
More advanced wizards might even directly study the fundamental rules of this world, devising ways to accelerate the plane's assimilation and fundamentally weaken its resistance.
But the problem was—their timing was awkward.
The easily researched materials and knowledge that could yield quick results had already been exhausted by the wizards who arrived earlier.
What remained were projects requiring immense effort and unlikely to produce breakthroughs in the short term.
Just as Jieming and Victor were feeling stymied by their current predicament, Amy, who had been tapping away at her communicator, suddenly brightened and let out a soft exclamation.
"I know what to do!" Amy looked up, her voice brimming with excitement.
Jieming and Victor exchanged surprised glances before asking in unison, "What's the plan?"
Amy smiled mysteriously. "The camp has only blocked our access to the mission system, preventing us from directly obtaining mission intel. But that doesn't mean we can't gather information from other wizards, process it, and earn contribution points!"
Victor's eyes lit up. "You mean... we could buy information with merit points? Or trade resources for it?"
Jieming stroked his chin thoughtfully and nodded.
Theoretically, this approach was viable. After all, as long as the information wasn't classified, the workshop allowed internal trading.
"It's a good idea," Jieming agreed, but his brow furrowed. "The problem is, we're newcomers here. We don't know this place well. Most of the wizards in the camp are out on missions, and even those resting won't easily trade their intel and rumors to us apprentices. Who would take that risk?"
Amy, however, wore a confident smile. "You don't need to worry. I know someone here."
"What?!" Jieming and Victor froze almost simultaneously, their faces registering identical shock and disbelief.
Jieming knew Amy was skilled at networking, but even with her talent, how could she have expanded her connections to this place?
"Amy, how... how do you know someone here?" Victor asked bluntly, his voice tinged with disbelief. "Are they from your family? But I thought your family..."
Amy waved her hand, cutting him off. "Stop guessing. My family is very small—only three true wizards, including myself, and none of them are here."
Without further ado, she pulled a crystal ball etched with intricate runes from her robe.
The crystal ball emitted a faint blue glow—her fifth-tier spell artifact, inscribed with the "Soul Search" Witchcraft Model!
"The person I know is the academy senior who sold me this fifth-tier spell artifact," Amy said, holding up the crystal ball with a hint of pride.
A flicker of confusion crossed Jieming's eyes. "Didn't you say your mother gave it to you?"
"Ugh, I said I got it through my mother's connections, not that she gave it to me directly," Amy retorted, rolling her eyes.
Victor nodded in agreement. "Wizards believe in equivalent exchange. They rarely provide resources directly."
Jieming nodded slowly, but another question arose: Why would purchasing a spell artifact maintain contact with the seller?
Given the academy's sales system, shouldn't such a high-level artifact first enter the academy's warehouse and then be sold through the academy's channels?
Amy noticed the confusion in Jieming's eyes and couldn't help but remind him, "Jieming, not everyone has the privilege you do—the ability to freely purchase spell artifacts and knowledge of any tier."
Jieming's expression stiffened slightly at her words.
He had obtained a second-tier cultivation protocol long ago, granting him unlimited access to spell artifacts, materials, and knowledge, provided he had sufficient merit points.
Having grown accustomed to this privilege and interacting daily with formal wizards, he had unconsciously overlooked this issue.
Ordinary wizard apprentices, before advancing to first-tier wizard status, could only purchase knowledge and equipment up to the level of a first-tier official wizard.
However, most apprentices lacked the merit points to afford higher-tier items, so they rarely noticed this limitation.
Amy shook her head. "But this assessment is different. Almost everyone anticipated from the start that we'd be participating in a real Planar War. So apprentices like us would naturally do everything possible to enhance our survival and combat capabilities."
(End of the Chapter)
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