What Rank of Card Maker Is Lanqi?

In the gentle afternoon sun, as time drifted by, Lanqi and Side—who was cradling the cat—followed an old cobblestone road to the lord's manor of Chinston City. As they approached the building, a manor enclosed by red brick walls came into view. Intricate geometric patterns intertwined with verdant climbing vines, bearing the marks of passing years. Before them stood a pair of wide, double oak doors engraved with the Chinston family crest—a soaring kingfisher. Viscount Laiwen Chinston, who had returned home ahead of them, opened the heavy doors and invited the two guests inside. On the second floor of the manor, right next to the study, lay a workshop equipped for crafting magical tools. Viscount Laiwen Chinston soon guided the two to the workshop door. "Once the prison finishes its work later, Xiaya will bring over all the prisoner's identification documents," Viscount Chinston said. The Governor-General had instructed them earlier that he needed all of the convict's identity papers, along with every extractable magic card seized from him. "Alright, thank you for your trouble," Lanqi replied from beside the doorway. With Xiaya taking over the educational duties in place of the Poet of Great Love, he could now focus peacefully on crafting cards. Pushing lightly against the workshop door, even before crossing the weathered threshold steeped in history, an indistinct, melodious surge of magical barrier energy gradually wove a haze of light over the door. Influenced by this subtle power, the ancient coat of arms inlaid on the long-silent metal door began to glow with a deep blue luminescence—the telltale sign that the barrier protecting the card maker had activated. Revealed before them was a room whose décor differed starkly from the rest of the manor— A neat counter seemed a silent witness to the years, devoid of ornate carvings or excessive embellishments, exuding only an austere atmosphere that conveyed an innate sense of order and structure. He turned to look at Side behind him. "Side, there's no telling how long my card crafting might take. It could get pretty boring for you, you know?" Back in his hometown of South Vantina, Talia would sometimes wait half the day while he crafted cards. Of course, to a member of the demon race who had lived for centuries, the flow of time was likely different. An afternoon in Talia's eyes was probably nothing more than the blink of an eye, which was why she had never realized just how precious time was until her prime marriageable years had quietly passed her by. Sigrid was different; she was a normal, well-liked woman. The only reason she had reached an older age without marrying was probably that she was simply too exceptional—hardly comparable to Talia's case. "...I don't know whether I'll be bored, but I do get the feeling you might want a punch from me before dinner," Side said, staring directly into Lanqi's eyes. She felt he was growing bolder by the day; his thoughts were practically written all over his face. It was fortunate that none of his acquaintances could read minds, or this kid would end up in the hospital sooner or later—if he didn't skip the hospital trip straight to the morgue. "How could you say that?" Lanqi sighed softly, meeting Side's gaze with utmost sincerity as he gestured for her to enter the room. The spacious card workshop was fully equipped with card-crafting tools, all of them of notably high caliber. Though Side knew little of the craft of magic artificers, she could tell that finding such fine equipment in a remote city-state was quite impressive. Before long, following Viscount Chinston's orders, the manor's steward prepared and brought over the items on Lanqi's list. Besides routine materials like blank cards, energy crystals, transcription magic stones, and magic core fluid, there was also a pile of demon-attribute materials. In the Protos Empire, it was actually far easier than in the Hutton Kingdom to acquire the tools and ingredients needed for crafting cards using Demon Magic Script. "You don't have to stay here the whole time; you're free to step out whenever you like without bothering me. I'm very relaxed when I craft cards." Lanqi picked up an armchair and set it down on the far side of the room, away from the workbench, leaving plenty of open space and indicating it was for Side. "Alright." Side nodded and walked over to the armchair. She sat down, leaning back languidly with her chin resting on one hand, her head tilted slightly like an empress watching a play. Her gaze rested calmly ahead, clearly intrigued by what was about to unfold. After all, watching Lanqi craft cards was how she planned to pass the time. "You have a Card Makers Association down on the Southern Continent, don't you?" Side asked after a moment of thought. If she remembered correctly, there were seven ranks in total: from the lowest Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Magic Crystal, up to the highest, Grandmaster. Except for the final Grandmaster rank, which was practically an honorary title, the requirements and divisions for advancing through the first six ranks were crystal clear and rigorous. Thus, even as a native of the Northern Continent, she could roughly gauge what each rank corresponded to in the north. The Northern Continent lacked the super-massive transnational guild coalitions found in the south. Within the borders of the Protos Empire, certification for card makers was merely a branch under the umbrella of magic apparatus artificers. No matter which branch they belonged to, high-ranking magic apparatus artificers commanded handsome incomes in the Empire. By her reckoning, any magic artificer capable of obtaining a certified license on the Southern Continent was well beyond an apprentice level. An Iron rank was likely on par with an artificer capable of working independently in the Protos Empire; Bronze was an elite artificer; Silver was an exceptionally capable artificer who could effortlessly produce Purple Rare magic tools; and Gold could even qualify as an Imperial Court Artificer, a tier capable of creating Pink Sacred works. As for the Platinum-rank magic artificers above that—whether scroll scribes, tool crafters, card makers, or machinery engineers—they numbered only in the single digits across the entire Protos Empire. All of them were high-priority protected figures under the imperial banner; not even the Bishop of Domination would be permitted by the Empire to approach them. Because the Domination branch overwhelmingly revered Sigrid's martial prowess, the proportion of researchers, scholars, and magic apparatus artificers in their ranks was exceedingly small. The few competent artificers among her subordinates were talents she had personally scouted and hired. As for her Holy Son, Sigrid had previously only known that he possessed the skills of a magic artificer. But since she needed him to manage the entire Domination branch for her, she had never considered burdening him with research on the side. It was only today, having confirmed he was a native of the Southern Continent and seeing that absurd "Counterfeit Slate - Wind," that she suddenly realized she had no idea what her Holy Son's card-crafting caliber truly was. The most popular branch of magic apparatus artificers in the south was card makers. For all she knew, this boy might be a formidable expert even by the standards of the Protos Empire. So she mused. "Yes, the association is quite nice. It offers a lot of convenience, though enjoying those privileges naturally comes with corresponding duties," Lanqi affirmed as he prepared the task at hand. Bathed in the warm, amber glow of the lamps, the workshop felt isolated from the world beyond the manor. Gleams of light played over magic measuring instruments and compartmentalized sorting dishes. Lanqi stood before the workbench like a painter absorbed in his own world, calculating material ratios. He wondered whether he would smoothly pass the final review for Platinum rank once he returned to the Southern Continent. If he did, he would subsequently have to help proctor the Platinum-rank card maker exam—one of the highest-level examinations on the Southern Continent—as an examiner. Since arriving on the Northern Continent, the vast majority of his time had been consumed by work, official duties, and travel. Thinking about it now, this was one of the rare opportunities he had to pick up these tools again. "..." Seeing Lanqi immerse himself in his work, Side refrained from disturbing him further. "How are the magic cards he makes?" Side lowered her head and whispered to the little black cat. "I don't really know either... but they seem to be the exceptionally terrifying kind," Boss Cat answered timidly, looking up with a hint of perplexity in its eyes. At first, it had thought the guy was a complete amateur who blew up cards every day and was only pretending to be a professional card maker. Only after seeing that "Nuclear Fusion Wolf" did it realize this brute was actually capable of crafting Epic cards. Yet it dared not tell Sigrid that Lanqi was suspected to be a Platinum-rank card maker. There were only a few dozen Platinum-rank or higher card makers in the entire Southern Continent; tracking him down in the south would be all too easy. If Sigrid were ever to learn Lanqi's true identity, it wouldn't dare dream of what would happen if a Cardinal of the Resurrection Church paid a personal visit to Boss Cat Restaurant! What if the High Priests raided its home as a cultists' den?! It absolutely did not want anything like that to happen!!