Sold?

"Cooperation?" Rayne froze for a moment.

Caroso pulled out the white elite card and handed it to Rayne. "I want to sell this card on a large scale."

Rayne suppressed his excitement and accepted the card.

This was the secret behind Caroso defeating Karei. He had actually taken it out openly, and even wanted to sell it in bulk?

Rayne glanced over it and was completely dumbfounded. "Copy the opponent's card?"

"Yes." Caroso nodded.

Elena leaned over beside Rayne, took one look, and covered her mouth. "This... is such a terrifying card!"

"Ten minutes. What if the battle lasts longer than ten minutes?" Rayne looked at Caroso.

"Then I might be the one who loses." Caroso explained calmly.

"So you fought him desperately without holding back because you wanted to end the battle as quickly as possible. If your weapon broke, you could just use another one." Rayne swallowed.

"That's right." Caroso nodded. "He lost because he didn't understand me and kept following my rhythm. If he had noticed I was in a hurry, he should have dragged the fight out. Unfortunately, he lacked combat experience."

"Whew... You're just telling us this?" Rayne's expression was complicated.

"Elena and I are friends, and you and I are friends too, aren't we?" Caroso smiled faintly.

Rayne felt that this Caroso seemed to be the sort of person who was... rather simple-minded.

The glove tossing earlier, and now showing off his card without any guard, both proved it.

Well, he did come from a relatively barbaric place like Azure Wolf Province.

"Huh? This is a priest card?" Elena looked astonished.

"A priest? No way..." Rayne looked at the card, his mouth twitching. "This... only priests and card makers can use it? And it has to be the card maker who created this card."

"So its power would be greatly reduced," Caroso said.

"The issue isn't its power. Why would the priest card line have such a strange card?" Elena blinked. "Aren't priest cards all holy?"

"This was the lesson I told you about before—the use of demon blood." Caroso explained.

"So that's how it is!" Elena suddenly understood.

Brother Caroso really wasn't hiding anything from me!

"Would priests use something like this?" Rayne frowned.

"I think it will definitely be popular. Not every priest gets the chance to use warrior cards or knight cards." Caroso tapped the table. "It's very valuable."

Rayne frowned as he considered it carefully.

If it were a universal card with no class restriction, its value would be immeasurable.

But with class restrictions, and for priests at that...

What ordinary priest had abilities like Caroso's? An ordinary priest using this card against a warrior would practically be courting death.

Then again, anyone who usually fought with spells probably dreamed of close combat.

Besides, if priests faced mages, warlocks from other nations, and similar opponents, this card would be extremely useful.

Especially when clearing low-level dungeons, being able to use this card to exchange for an enemy's card made it a powerful strategic card.

"How do you want to cooperate?" Rayne realized the card was not as overwhelmingly powerful as he had imagined. As long as one prepared in advance, it could be countered, and his earlier fervor faded.

At the same time, he lowered much of his guard around Caroso.

The card was powerful, but its usage restrictions were severe.

Caroso's invention was impressive, but still within the realm of comprehension.

"You provide the card makers and the alchemy workshop, and you'll be responsible for sales as well." Caroso said, "I'll only provide the formula and take seventy percent of the profits."

"That much?" Rayne's pupils contracted. "That's not how business negotiations work."

"I'm providing the formula," Caroso said. "If you can't decide, ask your family what this formula means."

"It means a new way of thinking?" Elena suddenly realized.

At Elena's words, Rayne understood as well.

That's right!

The card itself was not that important. What mattered was that priest cards had long reached a bottleneck. Even when there were innovations, there were never many.

But as long as this card's formula was released, they could conduct countless experiments based on this card and develop an entire system!

Going from one to a hundred was not that difficult. Going from zero to one was the hardest part.

Rayne's breathing gradually quickened. He clenched the card in his hand and said to Caroso, "I need to go back and discuss this with someone. I can't make the decision myself."

"I can wait for you."

"Brother Caroso, we still have to help you make a materials list, and I gave you so many materials..." Elena grabbed Caroso's arm and shook it. "Ask for less..."

"If you want to count that," Caroso said indifferently, "I taught you the true use of demon blood before. I never intended to ask for your materials. I only wanted a list."

Elena froze, looking aggrieved, tears nearly bursting from her eyes.

When she cried like that, it was as though every man in the world had done something wrong.

Unfortunately, Caroso had a heart of stone.

"Elena, business is business, and friendship is friendship. Caroso was already being very generous by choosing to cooperate with us instead of finding a group of people to bid against each other." Rayne tried to smooth things over.

"Okay, Brother Caroso, I was wrong..." Elena returned to Rayne's side pitifully, lowering her head and biting her flushed red lip as though she no longer dared to look at Caroso.

[Fuck, if I had a girlfriend like this, what would it matter if the child wasn't mine?]

[How is she some scheming bitch? She's clearly a sensible little sister.]

[She knows to apologize when she makes a mistake? Why have I never met such a good girl?]

[Hell, she's way too good at acting. I can't watch this anymore.]

After seeing the two off, Caroso looked at the barrage.

[Boss Caro, you can't sell this formula.]

[Yeah, you should keep good stuff for yourself.]

"I gave the formula to my father, and he would definitely sell it," Caroso said. "If I don't sell it, then in about a month, this card will be sold from Azure Wolf Province all the way to the royal capital."

"Sorry. When you taught me how to make cards, I didn't trust you enough and handled this card on my own."

"In the future, I'll listen to you about which cards can be sold and which cannot. You are the true originals."

"I used this one to gain profit without your consent. That was my mistake, and I'll find a way to compensate you."

[Boss Caro's copyright awareness is pretty strong?]

[Waaah, Baby Caro is so sensible and adorable! I love him so much!]

[Such a sensible child... I just feel a little sorry for him.]

[Don't worry. Tonight, I'll definitely give you the framework for a deck. Once the materials list comes out, the entire strategy group will help build it for you.]

Seeing that bolded barrage message, Caroso solemnly rose to his feet, adjusted his clothes, and gave the barrage a standard noble's salute.