Are Lanchi's Magic Cards a Little Problematic?

Bright lights illuminated the Card Making Workshop, reflecting off the magical instruments and vessels.

Those tools exuded an ancient air, having witnessed the glory of many Card Makers on their rise to prominence.

At that moment, Lanchi was fully focused on the workbench.

He carefully counted the basic materials, took out a compartment tray, and selected some of each required material.

He placed them into the tray's compartments one by one.

Talia watched his material selection, her brows unconsciously furrowing slightly.

What did this guy need so many materials for?

As Talia wondered, Lanchi gradually finished his preparations.

Having lived frugally and poorly for so long, Talia had almost forgotten that she had once been wealthy too.

Lanchi rolled up his shirt sleeves, his face full of anticipation as he prepared to try making Magic Cards.

Somewhat clumsily, he began mixing the ground neutral magic crystal powder with Magic Core Liquid to make ink, using a measuring instrument to monitor the mana fluctuations during the blending process.

Lanchi still did not know how to synchronize his own mana with the ink mixture, so for the time being, he could only rely on magical tools for assistance.

"..."

This was not actually difficult. It was just something one could not learn from books alone; someone had to teach him.

Talia watched Lanchi's amateurish operation without the slightest ripple in her eyes.

However, she had no interest in it, nor any reason to guide this human boy with no magical talent whatsoever.

Seeing this.

Talia already knew what card Lanchi wanted to make without needing to watch any further.

Because Lanchi had opened the Magic Scroll he would next use for transcription, extraction, and engraving.

That scroll was none other than the Tier 1 mental spell, Mental Interference.

Compared to a Magic Scroll that would be ruined after a single use, turning it into a Magic Card would allow the spell to be used repeatedly—

Mental Interference

Category: Spell Card

Rarity: Blue Precious

Attribute: Mental

Tier: 1

Effect: Only affects enemies within 3 meters, rendering them unable to act for an extremely brief moment. Mana consumption and duration are determined by the mental gap between both sides. Cooldown: 120 seconds.

In most cases, a Magic Card made using only this Magic Scroll as the basis would have roughly the same effect, at most with slight variations in control duration.

If the Card Maker was highly skilled, it might even be possible to create one of Purple Rare quality.

Then, the effect would become stronger, or it might gain an additional effect.

Of course.

Even though it was only a Tier 1 spell, its Blue Precious quality still made it highly challenging for a novice Card Maker.

It would already be good enough if the card did not explode, or if they managed to make a downgraded White Common version.

Talia could not yet judge what talent this boy had, or what kind of card he would make.

But generally speaking, talented humans started learning card making far earlier than this.

Lanchi's family was clearly not poor.

If he had talent, he should have received the best resources and begun learning long ago.

He would not be fumbling around with card making on his own now simply because of a passing interest.

"Tata, do you know card making?"

Lanchi stared at the scroll in his hands. Seemingly sensing Talia's gaze, he suddenly asked.

To him, having someone in the workshop to chat with seemed rather nice.

"..."

Talia ignored him and merely shifted her gaze away indifferently.

She did not want to lie over such a trivial matter, nor did she want this human to know what he did not need to know.

Lanchi smiled slightly, taking the hint, and did not speak to Talia again.

Just like the Card Maker Association's attitude toward him, he had decent transactional value as a merchant.

But as a Card Maker, he seemed to have no value at all.

Come to think of it, the only people who had believed in him so far were Hans, the Butler at the estate, and Francine, the Young Miss Maid.

As Lanchi pondered this, he continued pouring the prepared Magic Ink into his engraving pen.

He could not be distracted from this point onward, because he was about to enter the most crucial step of making a Magic Card—

The rewriting and setting of magical structures and circuits.

Tier 1 Mental Magic was almost always minor mental interference, while hard-control Mental Magic generally required close range to activate.

If one wanted to rewrite the effect, it would not only require exceptional magical creativity, but also repeated experimentation and refinement. The difficulty was far beyond ordinary card making.

Lanchi focused completely, concentrating all his attention before him.

As the engraving pen in his hand moved slightly, he slowly infused his mana into every magical circuit.

The magical structure of a card was not something any mage or Magic Artisan could draw just because they wanted to. It was a process where understanding, creation, and spellcasting coexisted.

Without outstanding talent and thorough understanding, even if one could draw something that looked similar, they could not grant it the power it deserved.

Lanchi held his breath, seemingly entering the moment of greatest challenge.

The greatest trouble with engraving was the circle of dense magical runes that had to be inscribed on the card. Those twisted things looked like ants crawling around, and without sufficient eyesight, one could not understand them at all, much less write them down.

He slowly engraved them with a deep frown.

Like a painter creating a masterpiece of breathtaking beauty.

Every stroke was incomparably delicate, yet filled with a sense of steadiness.

Even Talia, standing beside him, could not help but take Lanchi a little more seriously.

Never mind what low-level card Lanchi was making or how lacking his experience was.

At least at this moment, Lanchi did not resemble an inexperienced card-making apprentice, but a master artist of extraordinary skill!

Several dozen seconds passed like this.

Then, accompanied by a resounding explosion.

It exploded.

Talia: "..."

Amid the faint spreading smoke, she shook her head almost imperceptibly.

As expected, he was a mediocre fool wasting money for nothing.

Even though she did not understand the spell engraving of human magical writing very well, she could roughly tell that Lanchi had been performing some baffling operations—

He did not seem content with making Mental Interference. While transcribing and engraving it, he appeared to be trying to rewrite it into a more complex spell before directly sealing it into a card.

It was like a beginner who should first learn how to walk before learning to run, while Lanchi wanted to skip both walking and running and try flying from the very beginning.

Someone who did something like that.

Was either an extremely arrogant genius.

Or an idiot who aimed too high.

"Why did it explode...?"

Lanchi looked somewhat dumbfounded at the Magic Card in his hand, which had exploded like a firecracker.

Everything seemed to have happened too suddenly, shattering his dream of making cards.

Fortunately, the light barrier in the Card Making Workshop had protected him from injury.

The next second, Lanchi dashed out of the Card Making Workshop as though he had suddenly remembered something.

"This guy..."

Talia muttered to herself with a frown.

Even if his employer had been upset by the setback and wanted to leave, he should not have abandoned her like that as though throwing a tantrum.

What she hated most was being casually left behind by anyone.

Just as Talia's expression darkened and she prepared to leave the card-making room, Lanchi ran back in and rushed to the workbench, picking up a pen and quickly recording something.

"You're not leaving?"

Talia asked.

"Leaving? This is only the beginning! I just went to ask the Butler to bring me a few more things."

Lanchi answered as though it were only natural.

He did not seem discouraged in the slightest. Instead, his eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and anticipation, as though this field of card making filled him with endless curiosity.

Talia said nothing more and returned to her seat.

She was patient. She could earn 3 pounds a day just by sitting here, and she did not dislike that.

She just did not know how long this human would last before giving up after repeated failures.

Soon, the Butler delivered several books and a small amount of materials Lanchi had not used previously.

The moment Lanchi received the books, he began rapidly flipping through them at the long table as though possessed.

He spent the entire afternoon repeatedly exploding cards, recording failure data, consulting books, and studying.

Two full weeks passed like this.

Every day, Lanchi and Talia came to this Card Making Workshop. One exploded cards while the other watched, and they would remain there for nearly the entire day.

Yet Lanchi still had not made a decent Mental Interference card.

Talia still sat in her chair, gently holding a book in both hands and turning its pages unhurriedly while fulfilling her duty of protecting her employer.

However, she no longer paid much attention to Lanchi's card-making process, merely reading human books to pass the time.

In her view, Lanchi's failures were perfectly normal.

Even a beginner who trained with such intensity and disregard for cost as Lanchi did would usually need to experience repeated failures before making a Blue Precious card.

Lanchi truly did not seem to have much talent.

Someone talented might have already made several usable Tier 1 Magic Cards by now.

There were even geniuses who could directly make Blue Precious cards upon first encountering card making.

Unlike Lanchi, who had spent half a month producing nothing but waste.

A faint glow appeared at the edge of her vision.

Even with her attention on the book in her hands, Talia knew that the sound of a Magic Card exploding would soon follow.

Because Lanchi had failed at this step countless times already.

However.

As the light grew brighter and brighter before fading away, no sound came this time as it normally did.

"..."

Talia could not help shifting her gaze away from the page.

She saw Lanchi wearing an intensely focused expression, like a craftsman completing the final step of a fine work.

The Magic Card in his hand began radiating a hazy glow.

It seemed he had succeeded, and Lanchi let out a breath of relief.

At last, a Magic Card that could be called a finished product was successfully born amid a misty vapor!

Lanchi revealed a gratified smile as he stared at the card's surface.

He seemed very satisfied with the card's quality, and even as its maker, he could not help admiring it for a while longer.

A violet crystal glow shone from the card.

Even Talia could not help glancing sideways at Lanchi.

His first self-taught card was Purple Rare quality?

Most Card Makers only had a chance of producing Rare-quality cards when they reached Tier 4 or Tier 5 and then went back to make Tier 1 or Tier 2 cards.

Of course, Lanchi had used far too much time and too many materials, and the demon race had no shortage of even more outrageous geniuses.

But what surprised Talia was that a human she had encountered by chance possessed such talent...

Sure enough, even fate stood on humanity's side.

A sense of helplessness inexplicably spread through her heart.

In this moment, all she could think was that in this human era blessed by the gods, the demon race's dream to Restore the Nation was nothing more than an unreachable illusion.

"Tata, come look at my masterpiece!"

Lanchi's cheerful voice made Talia raise her lowered eyes slightly.

To her.

A Tier 1 purple card was nothing particularly rare.

And compared to the materials Lanchi had wasted, the value of this card could not even cover a fraction of the loss.

Even if it was a Purple Rare Mental Interference card, it was ultimately a relatively low-cost mental spell, not a necessity, and could not even be considered a versatile card.

Compared with ranged classes, it was more likely to be carried by close-combat classes.

However, just as she was thinking this.

Talia identified the effect of the card in Lanchi's hand and finally frowned.

Because.

She saw that the effect of this improved Mental Interference spell was—

Basic Etiquette

Category: Spell Card

Rarity: Purple Rare

Attribute: Mental

Tier: 1

Effect: Only affects enemies within 3 meters, causing the target to kneel before the user. Mana consumption is determined by the mental gap between both sides. Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Note: Sir, please do not judge others through a crack in the door, and do not get carried away.

"...?"

She had thought cards like this usually immobilized enemies for half a second or so after they got close, didn't they?

The one Lanchi had made had roughly the same effect... maybe its control duration really was just a little longer than Mental Interference's.

But...

There were some things she could not bring herself to say.

"Are you selling this card?"

After thinking it over, Talia finally asked.

This was the first time she had taken the initiative to speak to Lanchi.

With the several dozen pounds she had earned from Lanchi so far, buying a lowest-tier Purple Rare Magic Card would not be difficult.

Of course, that only applied to ordinary cards.

Lanchi's original Spell Card did not exist on the market, so there was no way to estimate its price.

Its value did not lie in whether it was useful or not.

It was that no one else could ever be allowed to use it.

So it would be better for her to keep control of it herself!

"Ah, no. I'm keeping this one for myself. It's a pretty good life-saving card."

Lanchi glanced at Talia in mild surprise, seemingly taken aback by her appreciation of it. Then he smiled and shook his head in refusal.

Talia: "?"

A pretty good life-saving card?

...Were you sure this card could save your life?

Maybe you would not have died in a fight otherwise.

But after using a card with such powerful enraging and taunting effects, that was hard to say.