Card maker? No, I'm a mechanic!

The next second, a thick smoke suddenly billowed from the card in Jiang Zhe's hand.

The modified nozzle circuit quickly turned bright red and then exploded.

"Cough cough..."

Jiang Zhe waved away the smoke in front of him and glanced at the energy lines above with some regret.

"As expected, the energy overload caused by this multi-stage supercharging is something that ordinary materials cannot withstand."

He looked up and met Su Man's shocked and bewildered gaze through her glasses.

"This...this is broken?"

Su Man pursed her lips, trying to calm the turmoil in her heart.

Although she didn't know why the card was broken, the cutting force she felt just now was deeply imprinted in her mind.

That's not the power a Water Blade Card should have!

"The material is too weak."

Jiang Zhe scratched his head helplessly.

After all, the materials he's using now were picked up from the processing plant, so it's normal that the effects are unstable or the quality is poor.

"Is that so?"

Su Man came to her senses and pondered for a moment.

"If you need anything..."

"Perhaps we could check out Professor Lin's project repository."

"Project warehouse?" Jiang Zhe was taken aback.

"Yeah, the professor has a lot of random projects under his name."

"Some of them were done on a whim, and others were for his students to practice on."

Suman added, "After those projects are completed, the remaining materials will be piled up in warehouses or sent to processing stations."

"Although they were mostly used, the quality was not bad."

"And as a teaching assistant, you theoretically have the authority to access these resources."

"Oh? Another treasure hunt?" Jiang Zhe's eyes lit up.

This sounds like he's back to where he started.

"Let's go take a look."

Without saying a word, Jiang Zhe put down the card and was about to leave.

"I'll take you there; the warehouse is in a rather out-of-the-way location."

Pushing open the door, Su Man looked at Li Kai, who was still standing guard at the door like a gatekeeper, and a smile appeared on her lips.

"Li Kai?"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Li Kai turned around abruptly, but when he saw that Su Man and Jiang Zhe had come out together this time, alarm bells immediately went off in his mind.

"Su Man, what's going on here...?"

"Let's go to the warehouse to find some materials."

"storehouse?"

Li Kai was taken aback, then turned his gaze to Jiang Zhe.

That place is so remote, how could a lone man and woman go there together?

"That place is so dusty and messy, it would definitely be inconvenient for the two of you to go there."

He quickly followed, a warm smile plastered on his face.

"I happen to be free today, I'll go help out."

Su Man paused slightly and turned to look at him.

This guy is quite self-aware.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

"No trouble at all."

Li Kai was overjoyed and quickly followed behind Su Man, not forgetting to turn back and give Jiang Zhe a provocative look.

You've come up with a plan to be alone with Su Man, huh? No way!

Seeing this, Jiang Zhe shrugged, completely ignoring his provocative gaze.

This guy was exhausted from helping him move boxes earlier, but it would be perfect if he had to move something big later.

……

In a corner of the academy, in front of an old warehouse covered with magic vines.

This place is usually deserted, with only a few students in charge of managing supplies coming here.

At that moment, the warehouse door was open, and two students in lab coats were talking quietly.

"Did Professor Lin go to the infirmary? I heard he was researching something when it exploded."

"Who knows? Hopefully, the old man won't drag us into this. If even he makes a mistake, I'll be blown up!"

As they were talking, one of them spotted the three people walking towards them.

"Hey, isn't that Senior Sister Su?"

"Senior Sister Su!"

The two quickly put down what they were doing and came out to greet them.

"Is there a new project?"

"No, I came here to find something."

Su Man nodded and stepped aside to let Jiang Zhe behind her pass.

"Let me introduce you, this is Professor Lin's new teaching assistant."

"Teaching assistant?"

The two boys were stunned for a moment, and looked at Jiang Zhe with some suspicion.

So young? She looks about my age.

When was the professor recruited?

Although he was inwardly complaining, he couldn't say anything for Su Man's sake.

They nodded politely, but their eyes held a hint of scrutiny.

Jiang Zhe, however, didn't care about any of that; his attention had already been drawn to the mountain of treasures piled up in the warehouse.

"Wow, this is much better than Old Wang's warehouse."

He rubbed his hands together and went straight inside.

The warehouse was large, filled with various dusty shelves and boxes.

Various oddly shaped metals and unidentified devices were piled up haphazardly, like garbage.

"What is this thing?"

Jiang Zhe picked up a stone that glowed with blue light, frowned, and looked puzzled.

The original owner's knowledge was fine in the processing station, but it was clearly insufficient after coming into contact with high-end materials here.

"That's blue fluorite. It has good energy conductivity, but it's too brittle and will break if you touch it."

Su Man followed and became the temporary commentator.

After coming out of the lab, she roughly understood some things.

The professor's so-called new principle was most likely proposed by him, or at least related to him.

Unconventional...or a genius who doesn't follow the beaten path?

In short, they are worth dealing with.

"That's copper, which has a very low melting point and is usually used to make synthetic materials."

"That's mithril scrap over there; it's usually sold for money."

Time passed quickly, and under Su Man's guidance, Jiang Zhe continued his exploration, but he could not find anything satisfactory.

They're either too brittle, too soft, or too precious to bear.

He continued until he reached the very corner of the warehouse.

There was a pile of black metal lumps there, covered with quite a few spider webs.

"What is this?"

Jiang Zhe reached out and touched it; it felt icy cold and was surprisingly hard.

"Oh, that one."

Su Man pursed her lips and glanced at her with some disdain.

"That's deep-sea mithril, an old material that was phased out in the last century."

"It's hard and heavy, and there's one crucial thing..."

She pointed to the piece of metal.

"Its energy conductivity is too poor, or rather, it blocks most of the energy."

"So it's useless except as the casing for certain devices."

"But now even the outer shell has better energy-conducting alternatives, so naturally no one uses it anymore."

"The professor kept these things simply because they're worthless. Even the processing station wasn't really willing to take them, so they've just stayed here."

But Jiang Zhe's eyes lit up when he heard this.

He doesn't need any conductivity; what he wants is its physical properties.

As long as the hardness is high enough, it can withstand the terrifying pressure after multi-stage boosting.

Moreover, wouldn't such a material abandoned by the times be even cheaper?

"This is it."

Jiang Zhe excitedly patted the pile of metal lumps, producing a dull clanging sound.

"Suman, nobody should want this, so I'll take it."

"Ah... no one wants this stuff anymore. Professor Lin would probably love for you to help him get rid of it."

"That's great," Jiang Zhe grinned and, without any hesitation, picked out a piece of a suitable size and hugged it to his chest.

Once the shape is achieved, his ultra-high pressure water jet can immediately produce a sample, allowing the client to prepare for payment.

"Buzz..."

Just as Jiang Zhe was happily calculating how much the Lin family would reward him, the communication card in his pocket rang.

He took it out and saw that it was indeed Lin Xiaoya's spiritual imprint.

Speak of the devil and he appears.

"Feed?"

"Mr. Jiang Zhe, there's something I need to tell you." The voice on the other end of the communication card sounded somewhat helpless.

"It's about that magic-suppressing black gold mine."

"The Fireworks workshop approached us saying they wanted to buy our mining rights."

"The Blazing Fire Workshop?" Jiang Zhe's eyes flickered slightly.

"Yes, their prices are not high, you could even say they're dirt cheap."

"But it also happens to fall within a barely acceptable price range."

"Some of the elders in the family also felt that since we couldn't mine any more, we might as well sell them as soon as possible to get some cash back."

"So they're hesitating and want to hear my opinion as well."

"So you mean...?"

I haven't given you a reply yet.

Lin Xiaoya paused for a moment.

"but……"

"The family can't wait indefinitely, so they'll make a decision in two days at most."

"Two days?"