Since he was already at Noren Academy Sector 13, Jie Ming saw no need to rush back to his remote Noren Sector147 plane.

On one hand, he had to wait for the expeditionary force headquarters to process his intelligence report and possibly summon him. On the other, the chance to study again under Mentor Clark was far too precious to waste.

In the days that followed, he kept a close eye on any messages from headquarters while calmly staying in Clark’s vast, labyrinthine laboratory, serving as a senior assistant: processing precise experimental data, pre-treating rare materials, and handling miscellaneous tasks.

Of course, the memory of being instantly erased still haunted him.

To be frank, as one of the few who had genuinely experienced the sensation of death, Jie Ming found his fear of it had not lessened—it had grown.

Additionally, he still had no idea of the exact value of the Substitute Death Doll he had just consumed.

After all, he had never actually paid Mentor Clark for it.

This was standard in the wizard world.

Wizards revered equivalent exchange. Even between the closest master and disciple, when something this precious was involved, accounts were settled clearly.

A mentor could offer shelter, knowledge, opportunities—even, like Clark, front a life-saving artifact in advance.

But the student had to bear the corresponding price.

Discounts were possible; free gifts were not.

Previously, since Jie Ming had never used the doll, it had remained unused insurance—nothing to worry about.

Now, he could no longer pretend ignorance.

During a break between experiments, he casually probed while Clark was fine-tuning a complex energy-focusing array:

“Mentor… about that Substitute Death Doll—do you have any more in stock? Or know where I could get something similar for emergencies?”

Clark didn’t look up from his rune engraving. “The last one I had is now inside you. If you want another, I can contact my own mentor—he occasionally accepts commissions.”

Hope surged in Jie Ming’s chest, but before he could speak, Clark continued flatly, “Be warned, though—it is extremely expensive.”

“How expensive?” Jie Ming instinctively touched his terminal.

Thanks to the “Self-Stabilizing Domain Adjustment Protocol” technology, he considered his savings fairly substantial.

Clark finally paused his work and glanced at him. Instead of quoting a number, he simply said, “The Magic Net’s high-tier military merit exchange zone lists the public price. Check it yourself—you have clearance.”

Jie Ming’s heart sank.

High-tier military merit zone?

Everything there was top-grade hard currency.

He immediately connected mentally to the Magic Net. After identity verification, he entered that rarely visited region.

A quick search located the entry:

Substitute Death Doll (Standard Alchemy/Fate Composite Artifact)

The long string of zeros after the price made his heart skip a beat.

Ten billion high-tier military merits!

Converting at the unofficial floating rate, that was roughly one hundred billion ordinary merits!

And high-tier merits weren’t just numbers—they were passes to extended recovery periods and access to the rarest resources!

At that price…

Even if Jie Ming liquidated everything he owned, he couldn’t afford even one.

Worse, the listing clearly stated:

Stock: Extremely Low (Pre-order required; fabrication cycle measured in centuries).

Jie Ming sucked in a cold breath and turned to Clark with a mournful face. “Mentor… even if you sold me, I couldn’t afford this…”

Clark remained utterly calm, resuming his engraving. “No matter. It’s only means you’ll carry some debt. With your potential, you can pay it off slowly—wizards live long lives.”

Jie Ming’s mouth twitched. Some debt? This was an astronomical figure!

He used to mock Senior Sister Viola for turning herself into a corporate ox to pay off debt; now he had joined the herd…

Unwilling to give up, he searched for other artifacts or spell scrolls with similar death-substitution or resurrection effects.

The results were even more despairing.

Anything involving “causal reversal,” “soul anchoring,” or “instant-death evasion” was absurdly expensive and almost always came with harsh restrictions or severe side effects.

By comparison, the Substitute Death Doll was practically the best value with the fewest drawbacks.

“Fine, fine…” Jie Ming completely abandoned the idea of acquiring another life-saving treasure anytime soon. “With that many resources, I’d be better off investing everything into raising my own strength.”

Even if he somehow earned the money, spending it on knowledge and resources for himself would be far more cost-effective.

At the same time, he inwardly shivered at the terrifying money-making potential of high-rank alchemists—especially those who touched the domain of fate.

A Rank-7 alchemist capable of reliably producing Substitute Death Dolls could probably accumulate wealth faster than many combat-focused Rank-8 wizards who weren’t good at business.

“Wait…” Jie Ming suddenly froze and looked at Clark. “Peak alchemy attainment combined with fate studies… Mentor, isn’t that exactly the path you’re walking?”

Once Mentor Clark reached Rank-7, wouldn’t that mean…

His eyes lit up. Half-joking, half-hopeful, he said, “Mentor! You have to promote quickly! Whether your student can ever get an ‘employee discount’ Substitute Death Doll depends entirely on you!”

Clark finally raised his head.

With a cold snort, he pointed his rune-engraving stylus at the mountain of experimental data crystals piled nearby.

“Want to hug my thigh? Fine. Start by paying a little interest on your debt—right now. Go process and analyze all seventeen sets of energy dissipation fluctuation data from Workstation Three today. If you don’t finish, don’t even think about leaving the laboratory tonight.”

“Yes, Mentor! Mission accepted!” Jie Ming instantly dropped the joking attitude and scampered off to Workstation Three, beginning the first bitter labor of his “debt repayment” career.

Two months passed in this fulfilling yet grueling research-assistant life.

Just as Jie Ming was almost getting used to the routine and had even begun re-optimizing his sigil-wizard artifact and Black Titan designs, news about that strange plane finally arrived.

Yet the update did not come through official channels from expeditionary headquarters.

It came because…

Viola had returned.