After watching this match, Lu Chenxing didn't stay long, because he had already gotten the result he wanted.
The Bloodthirsty Bull in his simulation was similar in strength to this giant tiger, and he had a rough understanding of his own strength, so he had a good idea.
Afterward, he and Yan Pingsha went to the training ground to take a look. Because his strength was First Order, he could only go to the First Order and Second Order training grounds. Higher-order places could only be accessed after applying.
However, the First Order and Second Order were completely sufficient for him now. He took a brief look and then lost interest, because he felt that these students, including those in the Second Order, seemed... very ordinary?
But he wasn't the kind of person who courted trouble. After all, many of these people looked somewhat familiar to him; they seemed to be people who had ordered cards from him. These were customers, and he couldn't easily offend them.
So he decided to pick someone's battle to simulate when he got back. Just as he was thinking this, a sudden commotion on one of the platforms caught his attention.
Two evenly matched individuals suddenly exchanged a blow and then widened their distance. The mage, one of the two, sneered, "Although you've improved again during this time, it's a pity that this time, I'll ultimately have the upper hand! You're destined to lose this time!"
Then, he pulled out a card from his embrace, smirked, and shouted, "Boss Lu, help me! Activate! Darkest Hour!"
Pure dark attribute elements immediately fell from the card, engulfing the entire arena in just a breath. It was clearly a single-attribute terrain card!
Hearing this, Yan Pingsha looked at Lu Chenxing with some surprise and smiled, "Boss Lu is very popular at school!"
Below, Lu Chenxing expressionlessly curled his toes, watching the chuunibyo performance above.
Just when he thought this was the peak, he didn't expect the opponent to also reveal a crooked smile, which made Lu Chenxing inwardly think, "Not good!"
"Ridiculous, do you think I came unprepared?" his opponent said, also pulling a card from his pocket and loudly declaring, "Boss Lu, help me! Blade of God!"
A golden gleam shot out from the card, suddenly entering his longsword, coating it with a golden radiance. The sharpness was visible to the naked eye!
"Oh? This card is called Blade of God?" Yan Pingsha looked at Lu Chenxing with some surprise upon seeing this.
"No, he just made that up. It's just a regular metal attribute functional card that only increases the sharpness of a weapon," Lu Chenxing explained expressionlessly.
"Then that Darkest Hour just now?"
"It's just a regular dark attribute terrain card. Because he wanted a single dark attribute, it was cheaper that way... The gold attribute one is the same."
"How much?"
"Two thousand per card."
"Two thousand?!" Yan Pingsha's eyes immediately lit up, and she asked in disbelief, "How is it so cheap?"
"Because there are almost no First Order custom cards on the market, so I set the price myself." At this point, Lu Chenxing couldn't help but rub his forehead. These two-thousand-yuan cards were given such chuunibyo names; he really couldn't bear to look!
"Can I try your Blade of God card?" Yan Pingsha seemed quite interested in this.
"Ah? Sure!" Although Lu Chenxing was a bit surprised, he still nodded and casually released a mass of metal attribute elements. After compressing it and increasing its sharpness, he directly threw it onto the giant blade behind Yan Pingsha.
Then, the huge blade, shaped like a cleaver with a crescent curve, was covered with metal attribute elements and began to shimmer with a faint golden light.
Yan Pingsha took down the giant blade, stood it upright on the ground, and after a brief sensation, asked, "There's only about a 5% increase in sharpness. How much can theirs increase?"
"About 20%, with some fluctuation, but not much," Lu Chenxing said with a shrug.
He was First Order, Yan Pingsha was Third Order. It was normal for the effect to be so much weaker; in fact, it was already impressive that it still had any effect at all.
Hearing Lu Chenxing's answer, she said with some regret, "Alright, in that case, once you advance to Second Order, I'll come back to buy cards from you."
Lu Chenxing didn't ask Yan Pingsha what she wanted the cards for. After all, he was just a heartless Card Maker; what customers did with them after buying them was none of his business.
After watching the training ground, the two exchanged contact information, and Lu Chenxing bid farewell to Yan Pingsha, preparing to go back and focus on improving his magic power. He was now only half a step away from First Order perfection!
.....
Five days passed in a flash. Lu Chenxing never expected that he would absorb a full twenty First Order perfect crystal cores, spending a total of one hundred thousand, just to barely advance to First Order perfection.
Although one hundred thousand didn't seem like much compared to his current wealth, it was actually a significant expense.
Especially after the school issued a ban concerning him, his income sharply decreased, and he had to save as much as possible.
Speaking of this ban, one has to mention the recent "Boss Lu, help me" craze that swept through the training grounds. It was clearly a duel between First Order and Second Order weaklings, yet they managed to make it seem like a battle between powerful cultivators.
Icy snow, torrential rain, thunderstorms, lava, light, shadow, grasslands, hurricanes—there was nothing you couldn't imagine, and nothing they couldn't pull out of a card!
Moreover, some people seemed to have started relying on the terrain advantage created by cards, using them indiscriminately in both the training grounds and the beast fighting arena, regardless of the occasion. Thus, the school issued a ban.
"The use of cards is prohibited in contexts involving assessments, teaching, and ranking battles in the beast fighting arena, training grounds, etc., otherwise, all results will be void!"
After this ban was issued, students immediately sighed and lamented, and Lu Chenxing's shop business visibly dwindled.
However, this also suited Lu Chenxing's intentions, because as his cultivation improved, he would have more time for subsequent cultivation and research on techniques, and the difficulty of making cards would also increase. If he wanted to balance both, he could only take the high-end route.
That is, to let those people only customize when they truly needed it, instead of everyone having a card to play with in the arena.
A moment later, Lu Chenxing put these matters aside for now and checked his advancement trial mission.
This kind of trial mission is something you naturally become aware of once your strength reaches a certain level, like an assessment. If you can't pass it, you'll be stuck at that stage forever. If you can pass it, you'll become stronger.
"Kill three Second Order Early Stage enemies and obtain a trophy that can emit constant light."
The information was short. After a moment of contemplation, Lu Chenxing stroked his chin and said, "Killing three Second Order Early Stage enemies, that's not difficult, but this constantly glowing trophy... a trophy?"