Lanqi's Common Sealing Cards

In the third-floor lounge of the Ikerite Card Makers Association. Even indoors, the melodious chimes of the clock tower ringing twelve times across Hutton Pedestrian Plaza could still be heard. Dark brown wooden floors gleamed beneath the glaring midday sun, while the soaring dome, with its timber-beam structure, displayed the natural, rustic aesthetic unique to the Hutton Kingdom. Farther out from the leather sofas and coffee tables resting on the carpet, the curved wall partitioning the lounge projected live footage of the registered card maker exam. Two and a half hours had now passed since the exam began. Some examinees had already exhausted their five attempts and left the venue in disappointment. Others had already finished two or three completed cards and were even continuing to try crafting higher-quality magic cards to boost their scores. Beside a coffee table, the count's daughter, Sophia, still sat beside Prince Ainuoer. The two were as they had always been, though they seemed to be sitting just a sliver closer together. Hyperion, on the other hand, sat on a single armchair across from them, looking relaxed and at ease. The three had been here the whole time, watching the registered card maker exam. Because the broadcast cycled through candidates, footage of Lanqi only appeared occasionally. Staff behind the scenes at the Card Makers Association switched the feed during pivotal moments, such as when an examinee was nearing completion of a card. After all, the most thrilling parts were none other than the moment a card was successfully forged—or blew to pieces. "If you're aiming purely for success rate—wanting three out of five attempts—all you need to do is stick entirely to White Common quality," Sophia shook her head as she watched a card explode on the screen. "Yeah. Even though that'll lock you at the starting Iron rank, at least you'll pass the exam," Hyperion sighed in agreement. Before long, the screen shifted. The broadcast director cut to an examinee from the Holy Church Research Society who was about to seal and set his magic card. He was crafting a compound magic card combining the Light and Holy attributes, currently nearing completion of the penultimate step. Before the viewers' eyes, this young card maker dressed in an acolyte's robe had already meticulously inscribed the mana conduit onto the smooth card base and heat-stamped it with radiant glowstone powder to activate Light-attribute magic. The resulting framework bound the mana securely within the card like shackles. Next, he set to work on the final and most crucial step: the ultimate calibration and finishing. With sharp focus and an unhesitating hand, he deftly linked several magical engravings together, forming a complete mana energy circuit that would allow the magic card to recharge after expending its mana, making it reusable. Throughout this process, he had to ensure every magical structure operated correctly upon activation while avoiding conflicts between components. The slightest error would cause the card to collapse outright, and certain improper maneuvers could even trigger a violent explosion. His brow was furrowed, entirely absorbed in his work. At last, in that high-pressure instant, the magic card stabilized beneath a radiant gleam. Viewers could plainly see a deep-blue aura swirling incessantly across the card. A wave of praise immediately erupted across the already lively floor. The blue aura of Blue Precious quality radiating from the card proved that his technique was exceptionally solid. Crafting a card live during an exam was nothing like crafting in everyday conditions. Under normal circumstances, one had ample time to select and prepare materials, and there was no need to obsess over success rates like this. Forsaking the safest target of White Common quality to pursue a card with higher quality and completion was in itself an expression of immense confidence in one's skill. "This fellow has good skill. If he produces three Blue Precious cards, or a combination like one Purple, one Blue, and one White, he'll be ranked at Bronze," Ainuoer commented. Though his specialization at the School of Magic Engineering was not card making, his frequent visits to watch at the Card Makers Association gave him a keen sense of what kind of magic cards would yield which rank. The higher the quality of all completed cards produced during the exam, the more surplus promotion points one would earn, even within the same designated rank. At that moment, the display for the completed card appeared on the screen: [Holy Light Sanction] [Type: Spell Card] [Quality: Blue Precious] [Tier: 3] [Effect: Deals Light-attribute area-of-effect damage. When attacking beings belonging to the evil deity faction, deals an additional 100% Holy Spirit Judgement damage. Cooldown: 30 seconds.] [Note: The holy light will purify your soul!] Through displays like this, examinees could often swiftly sell off any completed cards they did not need once the exam concluded, and exceptional candidates might even receive orders and commissions on the spot. "If you're completely decked out with cards like this, they'd be incredibly effective for targeting evil spirits. They could blast deeply corrupted cultists of the Resurrection Church, and against most demons and the Blood Clan, they'd take direct effect." "Effective against demons, sure, but against the Blood Clan, not so much—since the Blood Clan can't be killed at all. Not that we'd ever run into them anyway." Even while sitting in the lounge, the conversations of pedestrians passing along the hallway drifted over. Demons were rare on the Southern Continent; before the fall of the demon realm, they had originated on the Northern Continent, while the Blood Clan consisted of secretive, elusive individuals. Against the Blood Clan, one could almost only seal them away; killing them was impossible. Their sole weakness was that they were weakened during the daytime. At night, they were masters of all, unmatched by anyone. Thus, Hyperion understood all too well why the opening monologue of Purgatory Corridor Academy had described an era where humans were mere slaves to the Blood Clan at night—because not even demons dared clash head-on with the Blood Clan after dark. In their prime, no race could do anything against the Blood Clan. "Sigh, it's pretty good, but too bad it isn't much use to people like us who live in the Hutton royal capital all year round." Ainuoer bought cards occasionally, but he showed little interest in this one. He had no chance of encountering the Blood Clan and had no need to fight demons, while cultists wouldn't dare stir up trouble in the royal capital where High Priest Loren resided. "Then you don't even need to bother looking at the rest of his cards. The others in the series, [Holy Light War Hammer] and [Holy Light Apostle], will have similar effects." Sophia had already deduced the candidate's strategy. He was definitely planning to craft three cards from the same series to maximize his rhythm and consistency while pushing his specialty to its limit, securing a steady leap straight to Bronze rank. "To be honest, I still prefer the cards Lanqi makes..." As Ainuoer spoke, he couldn't help expressing admiration for Lanqi once again. Before his voice even trailed off, the feed happened to cut back to Lanqi, the candidate the three of them had been paying attention to today. Presumably due to the director prioritizing card quality, most of the broadcast had just been devoted to the examinee finishing a Blue-quality magic card. By the time it switched over to Lanqi, he had already completed his magic card. The screen displayed the appraisal results— [Cartoon Mask] [Type: Equipment Card] [Quality: White Common] [Tier: 3] [Effect: Equip to a summoned entity to soften fierce appearances and make them cute.] [Note: The character art has been adjusted for you.] "What kind of weird card is this?" "Never seen it before. The association will probably register a patent for him." It was not uncommon for candidates in the registration exam to create novel magic cards never before recorded by the association. Though Lanqi's cards were low in quality, their peculiar effects stirred up a ripple of discussion every time. "What a truly captivating card!" Prince Ainuoer couldn't help exclaiming, looking as though he desperately wanted to buy one to try out on his own summons and those of his friends. This earned him a speechless exchange of glances between Sophia and Hyperion. Talk about another candidate making a Blue Precious and barely keeping up appearances, while Lanqi makes a White Common and exudes the aura of a master. This prince was far too biased; if he ever became king, he'd probably head the hardcore pro-Lanqi faction. Still, this card Lanqi had crafted was indeed rather inexplicable. Perhaps it was meant more as daily-life magic or entertainment magic. Of course, if one forcibly turned an enemy's ferocious, majestic dragon into an adorable baby dragon, it would probably deal massive psychological damage as well. With that... Lanqi had achieved three successes in three attempts. Even though everything he made was plain White Common sealing-type magic cards, and there was certainly an element of luck involved... ...one could still see that his affinity for sealing arts had reached a terrifying level. Among the two cards Lanqi had crafted earlier, there was another one Ainuoer desperately coveted: [Little Love Doll] [Type: Summon Card] [Quality: White Common] [Tier: 3] [Effect: Through singing, faintly seals and dampens the target's emotions, calming their mind.] [Note: Little Love will heal you.] A cute doll version of the Poet of Great Love. In short, it was utterly adorable, making anyone want to buy one to keep at home and listen to her sing. Even Hyperion was contemplating how to broach the subject and buy one from Lanqi; she wanted one too. In contrast, his spell card—the category Lanqi was best at—had been crafted quite casually, as if he merely wanted to secure a passing baseline first. [Are You Praying] [Type: Spell Card] [Quality: White Common] [Tier: 3] [Effect: Seals the target's eyeballs for 1 second. Cooldown: 30 seconds.] [Note: Guess who, darling?] Apart from the bizarre name and note, it belonged to the common sealing magics seen on the market. Then again, it seemed slightly different from simply "sealing vision for 1 second"—it appeared capable of directly sealing an opponent's ocular techniques as well. Many examinees would end the exam immediately after succeeding on three cards. Crafting cards under exam conditions was inferior to finding a moment when one was fully prepared to craft with devoted focus. Yet in the fleeting footage, Lanqi showed no intention of leaving. Lanqi planned to keep crafting cards. "Did he plan from the start to make three White Common cards as a safety net, then attempt high-quality ones to boost his score?" Sophia asked, puzzled. Few people ever used such a strategy. Because card makers who possessed success rates like four out of five or five out of five didn't need three White Common cards as a safety net in the first place. By relying on their craftsmanship to craft naturally, they could easily produce far superior magic cards. "I don't know either." Hyperion shook her head. When chatting earlier, Lanqi had told her his crafting strategy was to play it safe with an equipment card of White quality, while attempting higher qualities on the summon and spell cards. Yet Lanqi had changed his crafting strategy on the fly, and Hyperion had no idea what had prompted his new line of thought.