Chapter 13
After a long, restful sleep, Ningxi felt refreshed and energized.
This week, she made a total of thirteen commission cards, and sent each one to the commissioner.
After one night, all twelve clients sent confirmation messages and transferred their payments to her. After deducting card production costs, she earned an average of 1,600 star coins per card, totaling 19,200 star coins.
Suddenly, Ning Xi was transported back to the time when she had just sold the card-making materials, the time when she was at her wealthiest.
Of the remaining two clients, one did not confirm, while the other submitted a modification request, hoping to further enhance the card's power.
Ning Xi mentally reviewed the card's functions and implementation level, and decisively filed an appeal.
Just kidding, that's only an E-rank card. It's unrealistic to expect it to be as versatile as a high-rank card.
Appeal! Appeal!
With this money, Ning Xi was finally able to rent the card-making room.
Lacking confidence in her hand strength, she only rented the place for two hours, spending 1,000 star coins.
The college's card-making room is essentially a perk; it not only provides various instruments but also a certain amount of low-grade materials.
Given the quantity of these low-level materials, as long as the renter doesn't squander them, they will basically have more than enough.
This is also why Ning Xi chose to rent a card-making room instead of purchasing materials herself for practice.
However, there is one small requirement for the card-making room: cards made using materials from the academy cannot be taken out of the room. This rule is to prevent students from reselling the materials used in the card-making room.
Ning Xi chose two materials.
The Frost Core represents the ultimate in frost.
Represents the extremely hot lava core.
These are among the few (and not particularly rare) E-grade materials that possess "ultimate" properties. They contain very little energy, only a very faint wisp, but their purity is extremely high.
Ning Xi skillfully used her mental power to burn the materials, locking onto that rare and extremely precious strand within them.
The ultimate forms of ice and fire. If she could combine these two materials to create an E-rank card, then she could say she had fully mastered the knowledge from her practical lessons.
But it's not that easy.
The clash between the stagnation of frost and the flow of flames always creates an unexpected and dramatic commotion. Ning Xi was covered in soot, her face, hands, and clothes bearing the marks of the ashes from the materials.
No, she has to try again.
...It still doesn't work.
Two hours later, Ning Xi left the card-making room and returned to her dormitory.
Her hands were sore and her head was throbbing.
Zhang Min was always enthusiastic about various part-time jobs, whether it was working in the cafeteria or doing odd jobs at the administrative office. Although theoretically, the best part-time job in the card production room was repairing cards, Zhang Min always wanted to prove this point in practice.
She rarely stayed in the dormitory; most of the time, Ning Xi was the only one there.
She failed to successfully fuse the materials and mix the caramel.
The excitement of making money gradually faded, replaced by an indescribable bitterness in my heart.
The effects of her mental strength are already evident.
She cannot use or repair cards properly, and even card creation is restricted by her mental power. Her S-rank mental power grants her vast possibilities, but its unsuitable characteristics also limit her in every way.
Is it really possible for her to complete this card?
Can she really bring... a different possibility?
...
Right now, on the forum.
A new card maker with the ID "Sun God's Amazing Job" is seeing her number of completed commissions skyrocket. Of the twenty or so commissions she's taken on, eleven have been confirmed as completed, one is under review, and one was rejected by the client but was successfully appealed.
Apart from the one case involving an appeal, all other cases received positive reviews.
This situation has attracted the attention of officials.
Many people might think that a mere E-rank card is not worth paying attention to. But the official stance is quite different.
They certainly hope the forum can handle a large number of high-level commissions, but the problem is that high-level card makers don't use the forum at all. And those who truly need high-level cards won't place their hopes on such an unofficial online platform.
What truly sustains the forum is a large number of low-level individual commissions.
Therefore, ensuring the successful completion of lower-level commissions is an essential task for the official team.
After reviewing a series of backend information, it was determined that the other party was not a smurf account trying to smurf, and the official team began contacting professionals specializing in identifying low-tier cards.
Have you contacted the assessor yet?
"Contacting... No, stop contacting!"
The administrator's eyes widened with excitement: "Michael said he'll take action!"
[Let's assess this genius rookie card maker]
"Hey bro, I told you that guy was fake. Look, the expert has already posted a review."
In a card game club, a man reached out his left arm and put it around his friend's shoulder.
"This is a test post from the big shot Michael. I have to say this newcomer is incredibly lucky. Most people wouldn't even have the chance to get his feedback."
The two had argued for an entire afternoon about whether the new card maker was genuine or not, but now it seems their doubts can finally be resolved.
"It's still uncertain whether it's true or not." His friend poured him a glass of wine. "Let's wait and see."
Clicking on the post, a series of pictures popped up.
[Multiple Images Warning]
[I am a senior card maker and evaluator; my performance record can be found on my profile page.]
[Subject of this evaluation: ID: Sun God, Superbly Working]
[Glorious Achievements: Solved a high-difficulty E-rank quest in one fell swoop, earning praise from the client; after generating buzz, quests came in quick succession, producing thirteen cards in three days with incredible speed.]
Without further ado, the poster has sent a public invitation to the client to reveal the cards, but no one has replied yet; they're probably busy.
[This new card maker didn't set a reserve price, which is commendable. E-rank cards are inexpensive, so I'll send them three invitations first.]
[Invitation Image (Invitation Image (Invitation Image))]
"They're really rich and powerful..."
The two people who were looking at the post sighed.
"But to be honest, a few thousand star coins for a customized E-grade card is nothing to a big shot like this." Everyone in this circle knows just how wealthy high-level card masters are.
"I don't know if she will accept the commission."
[The request has been accepted! The efficiency has increased the poster's positive impression of the newcomer. But don't worry, during the actual evaluation, the poster will be even more ruthless!]
The poster's request was an expedited request, with an additional 500 Star Coins charged on top of the base price. The card maker messaged the poster saying she had already started the process.
This speed is normal, considering it's the weekend.
Based on the speed the card maker demonstrated, the poster should receive the finished cards by tomorrow at the latest.
"Is there still one day left? Let's do something else first—"
Wait, the transfer station sent a notification to the poster. Let me check.
[The interface shows that the creator has submitted the first draft, but instead of completing the commission, they are waiting for further feedback from the client? Card maker, I admit you've surprised me.]
“I knew he wasn’t a con artist.” His friend toyed with his wine glass and smiled. “A real con artist wouldn’t be this patient.”
"Perhaps they saw Michael's post and got scared?"
"Regardless of the actual situation, the finished card cannot be faked."
[I've already received the cards. (Image)]
At first glance, the card designs are exquisite, but not very simple. The card maker is a design enthusiast; each card has a large number of invalid designs.
Are these card patterns meant to prevent plagiarism? The poster doesn't think so. E-rank cards have been thoroughly researched. Even so-called high-difficulty cards have some publicly known successful examples. "High difficulty" simply means that these types of E-rank cards are difficult or impossible to replicate.
[Next step: Card testing.]
The test report is being generated, but this process is quite tedious. As usual, the poster will attach it; you'll need to retrieve it yourself.
The three cards customized by the poster are all related to the "healing" function. Due to well-known reasons, E-rank healing cards are very difficult to create, and even if they are created, their effects are weak, let alone having additional effects added.
Let's look at the first image: "Healing" + "Immune Dormancy".
[This card's healing ability... seems pretty good?]
Don't underestimate the small size of the healed wound; at least two-thirds of E-rank healing cards don't reach this level.
Let's take a look at "immune dormancy." Although this effect is not obvious, it is actually quite difficult to achieve.
However, judging from its appearance, this card is completely immune to the sleep effect!
"A scammer?" His friend looked at him with a smile. "There aren't that many scammers. I think you guys have developed PTSD from all the hype. This newcomer is obviously talented."
[Wait, the card report is out, OP, go check it out.]
[Evaluation complete]
After a long string of "???" comments below the post, Michael posted his final reply.
Sorry, I'm not doing the review anymore. I'm going to go and make friends with this card maker!
...
Zhang Min came home earlier than usual today.
“My part-time job in the administration building was taken over.” Zhang Min shrugged, looking bewildered. “Someone even took over a 500-star-coin work-study position. Is there any justice in this world? Are these people out of their minds?”
Ning Xi thought for a moment: "Maybe it's because this position allows me to come into contact with a lot of teachers."
"Whatever, I've already hit the wall." Zhang Min lay on the sofa, burying her head in the cushions. "The hourly wage is too low, and I often have to work overtime. I feel like it's better to take orders at the card repair shop... although taking orders is also very exploitative."
"Ning Xi, you rented the card-making room, right? Could you tell me about the situation inside?"
“The equipment is similar to that provided in the practical classroom, and the materials are all free.” Ning Xi pondered, “If you want to practice a lot, you can go there; it’s more cost-effective than buying the materials yourself.”
"...Zhang Min."
"What's wrong?"
Will you be able to complete the assignments for your practical class?
“Is that something I can just do whenever I want…” Her roommate yawned. “Didn’t you see the college’s internal forum? They’re all saying that practical course assignments are ‘impossible tasks’ for freshmen.”
"By the way, they're still talking about you. Those who oppose you say it's good that you've been removed, while those who support you say you should go to the academic affairs office to voice your concerns as soon as possible. By the way, are you going to the academic affairs office? You might as well go."
"Thank you." Ning Xi nodded. "Maybe I will go."
"But... I'm not planning to go right now."
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