NOVPUBUnder the solar halo, the temple was filled with the refreshing scent of plants that pervaded the warm air from around the temple.
Sitting on the stone steps, Lanci felt the breeze from the cliff’s green fields, enjoying this dream-like leisure time with an air of serene satisfaction.
Although the principal rarely supervises exams personally, when he does, it’s to ensure that the students being tested do not feel stressed.
He watched Carlen, who was busily making cards, from a distance.
The soft fallen light cast upon the workbench making it look like a sacred altar, with Carlen, like a saintess guarding the temple, working with measured, tranquil movements.
In the Shadow World, the main material for making cards often comes from decomposing magic cards brought in, which are then processed and remade.
This is also the reason why many useless purple rare magic cards, referred to as "embryos," can still sell at a certain price.
Of course, in this temple, strange plant life and slab waste can also be good materials, as long as you understand their uses and harmonize the right proportions.
A variety of natural green plants and petals were neatly arranged in the toolbox on Carlen’s table.
She placed the box in front of the workbench, gently stroked each plant as if communicating with them through magic power, and took out a feather-like green plant from the box, which she then put into a specially-made grinder and gently ground with a jade handle.
During the grinding process, green powder wafted from the grinder. Each particle carried a unique magical aura. Next, Carlen picked up a small bottle of specially-made transparent magic ink, mixed it with green powder, added a little lime, and during the mixing process, the fluctuation of magic power danced like a whirlwind with the green powder in the ink.
After this step, Carlen gently blew and leveled the workbench, waiting for the ink and the green powder to merge more perfectly. She stared at the workbench again and placed a high-quality decomposed blank card in the center.
Then she dipped a delicate portable feather pen into the freshly mixed ink. The moment the pen-tip touched the card, a magic structure swiftly took shape under her extremely meticulous strokes. Each line, each rune, seemed deeply connected with the wind.
Card making is a very long process, requiring great patience and concentration. Carlen’s eyes were sharp like a hawk’s, her pen-tip moved with her wrist, gently but decisively outlining the magic structure.
Time seemed to drag and race at the same time. In front of the temple’s stone slab, only Carlen and her magic card remained. The card she was depicting gave off a gentle magical halo, much like the dawn shining on a lush green field.
"Really impressive."
Lanci seldom watched others make cards.
Now that he had witnessed the entire process of card-making by a bona fide gold-level card-maker like Carlen, he couldn’t help but exclaim.
She must have a profound understanding of [Original Slabstone Tablet-Wind] to be so firm at every step.
As for Lanci, although he had also brought in some wind-attribute magic cards of purple rareness that could be decomposed, he had still not figured out how to create a wind-attribute magic card based on the part of [Original Slabstone Tablet-Wind] he had understood.
By contrast, Lanci was more convinced that it wouldn’t be of much use to him even if he had seen [Original Slabstone-Sealing], [Original Slabstone-Healing], [Original Slabstone-Spirit] or the comparatively compatible [Original Slabstone Tablet-Light].
Even if he were truly enlightened about wind-attribute magic engineering, he wouldn’t have many opportunities to make wind-attribute magic cards in the future.
However, the mural itself was quite wonderful, which made Lanci couldn’t help but appreciate it more. He had lost all interest in the barrier formula on it.
"Lanci, lend me an eye."
A clear voice echoed in Lanci’s mind.
It was the [Great Love Poet] initiating a conversation with him.
Since Lanci lifted her summoning restrictions, she could come out on her own and perceive what was happening around Lanci.
"Sure, sure, don’t rush."
Feeling the agitation of [Great Love Poet] in the soul space, Lanci let her use his own magic power according to her demand. Gradually, Lanci’s green left eye was covered by a touch of bright blue light.
Although he didn’t get much inspiration from the original slabs, the Great Love Poet might understand much more than him.
Time passed like this for quite a while.
Sitting on the stone steps, Lanci watched Carlen making cards while he picked up a piece of decent stone material and used the carving knife and brush from the portable card-making tool to while away the time.
"Wait, Lanci. You’ll assist me in making a card."
The [Great Love Poet] finally gave her thoughts again, imperiously ordering Lanci around.
"Then this time, it’s mainly up to you."
Lanci didn’t mind. If the Great Love Poet was willing to help him work, he was more than happy.
He stood up from the stone steps, rolled up his sleeve cuffs, and prepared to go to a farther location where he could summon the Great Love Poet without disturbing Carlen.
The exam supervision work was over for now.
...
Sage Academy Tower Library,
More than an hour has passed since Carlen and Lanci entered the Original Slab domain. Students on the top floor of the library have come and gone without knowing how many rotations have taken place.
Other than a few interested students who still occasionally look down at the center of the foundation layer from upstairs, only scholars who routinely record wait. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝔲𝔟.𝔠𝖔𝖒
At a stone railing on the sixth floor, a short-legged round table sat next to two reclining chairs for students to read leisurely. Drinking their afternoon tea, Hyperion and Sofia were seated here.
"When observing the tablet, if you do well you might be able to create a magic card. However, time is limited, and if you fail a few times you won’t have enough material left, and there won’t be time to continue making the card."
Sofia and Hyperion were discussing the possible outcomes when they, as magic artisans, observe the tablet.
Upon finishing, she glanced at the large clock in the library. If all went well, it would not take much longer for the observation of the stone tablet to be concluded.
"Don’t worry, Lanci maintains a positive attitude. He doesn’t care whether he can make a card or not."
Hyperion sipped her tea and smiled.
Tata had told her late one evening that when Lanci makes cards, he fails nine out of ten times. However, unlike others who would be ashamed and disappointed, Lanci would laugh it off.
"I wish I could have Principal Lan’s mentality."
Sofia touched her cheek and sighed.
Perhaps she needed to be more relaxed in order to control her Aynor.
"...Sofia, promise me, don’t learn from him."
Upon saying this, Hyperion instantly put down her tea cup, earnestly looking at Sofia to advise her.
She felt like Sofia was already showing early symptoms.
While the two women were chatting, some noise came from the basic layer, prompting them both to rise again from their reclining chairs and lean over the stone railing to look down.
Carlen had already returned to the Gu Ta library from the Original Slabs.
In the basic layer’s hall, many scholars had left their seats and were asking Carlen about her recent observation of the slabstone.
At this moment, she was like the centre of attention, her face adorned with a content smile.
On the high terrace, many students also looked down curiously. A surprised voice gradually rose among the students.
At this point, Carlen held in her hand a semi-transparent card that was shrouded in a pink mist.
She made no attempt to hide it, directly revealing the magical attributes of this card for the scholars to identify.
[Phantom of Wind]
[Category: Magic Card]
[Grade: Pink Divine]
[Level: 4]
[Passive Effect: If evasion is possible, gain a chance to perform an ultimate evasion every 20 seconds. Trigger ultimate evasion at the cost of mana.]
[Note: Don’t bully me, this small, pitiful and helpless individual.]
Due to the use of the portable card making tool kit to create a magic card by decomposing an existing card in the slabstone territory, this method is much more difficult than normal cardmaking and usually only results in a card of Purple Rareness. Carlen was able to produce a Pink Divine on her first attempt, indicating that on one hand she performed extremely well, and on the other hand, her foundation was solid, and she also gained quite a bit of insight within the slabstone territory.
"Damn, she made a Pink Divine."
Sofia pounded on the stone railing unwillingly.
Even from the sixth floor, she could hear the praise for Carlen from the students below and in the distance.
According to Sofia’s understanding, Carlen had never made a Pink Divine before. Clearly, her observation this time was greatly beneficial. This type of magic card, which is designed to save lifecost, would be perfect for a battlefield card maker who was looking to increase their position within the Shadow World.
"Unless Lanci does something epic or makes something even better than the Pink Divine, he won’t be able to surpass her."
Sofia looked at Hyperion with some anxiety as she spoke.
She knew that Lanci’s card making was based on a high upper limit and a low lower limit, which was exactly why he was able to reach the platinum level.
"Unlikely. Lanci’s wind attribute isn’t great. It would be a big win if he can make a magic card."
Hyperion shook her head.
"So we’re going to let her get away with it?"
Seeing that Hyperion was not the least bit anxious, Sofia felt even more anxious than her.
"Lanci probably won’t care too much. He doesn’t really have a competitive nature."
Hyperion spread his hands in helplessness. She had never seen Lanci seriously compete with anyone.
She estimated that Lanci had simply come to make a card by chance this time.
Whilst they were chatting, Lanci’s figure finally appeared from the Void Gate below. The Void Gate, formed by the [Original Slabstone Tablet-Wind], twisted and swirled until it disappeared in an instant, returning to a magic card in Dean Loren’s hand.
