Spirit Cards

Gathering Qi into Liquid was the mark of a One-Star Spiritual Apprentice.

Once the first drop of Spirit Liquid formed in the spiritual sea, it meant Duke could draw upon the power of Spirit Liquid to unleash supernatural power—of course, the supernatural power he could use was limited.

He shut the door and slid the bolt firmly into place.

Duke made brief contact with the One-Ring Desert Eagle in his spiritual sea. In the next instant, a silver-gray Desert Eagle pistol appeared steadily in his hand.

Holding the heavy Desert Eagle, he could sense that this First-Ring Arcane Artifact maintained its form in reality while consuming the Spirit Liquid in his spiritual sea every moment.

"Xiao Yi, how long can the Desert Eagle remain materialized?"

"Based on the current rate of consumption for one drop of Spirit Liquid, it can remain materialized for approximately three minutes when the Desert Eagle isn't being used. Since Xiao Yi is still maintaining meditation, the speed at which I absorb Free-floating Spirituality can increase the Desert Eagle's materialization time, extending it to six minutes."

"What if I pull the trigger?"

"Master will need to try it once before Xiao Yi can collect enough data."

He definitely had to try it, but certainly not in the little inn. Duke could only temporarily suppress the urge to pull the trigger and continue asking, "Xiao Yi, can this Desert Eagle continue to be upgraded?"

They had both crossed over together.

The phone had become Nine-Ring Xiao Yi, while the pistol was only a One-Ring Desert Eagle. The gap between them was simply too great.

"In theory, it's possible. Xiao Yi can improve the Desert Eagle's spell model, but that requires collecting a large amount of data for computation."

"It's good enough that it can be upgraded."

Duke toyed with the Desert Eagle for a while, then dispersed it. He indicated that Xiao Yi should continue cultivating the Blank Paper Meditation, while he himself began reading through the books he had purchased.

He gave them a rough read.

Xiao Yi would help him remember all the contents, then provide the information whenever necessary.

It was precisely because he had such a powerful cheat that Duke wasn't worried in the slightest about his mediocre Spiritual Arcana talent. Talent was merely one factor affecting the future, not an absolute determinant.

The next day.

At first light, Duke left the little inn. He bought several meat buns from a roadside stall and ate as he walked into the West Station.

He found the sign for the route to Snakehead Town and waited there. By the time the rising sun reached the sky, the Black Beetle Car entered the station right on schedule. It was the same one as before, with the same driver and conductor. Only the accompanying Great Knight had been replaced.

Routes were always dangerous, so an accompanying Great Knight was indispensable.

Two First-Ring Great Knights were enough to dispel most dangers.

The return journey went smoothly, without a single danger. When the Black Beetle Car pulled into the station and his feet once again touched solid ground, Duke felt that his mood upon seeing Snakehead Town again was completely different.

"Now that I'm a registered Spiritual Apprentice, I finally have at least a little guarantee of safety."

Before he went to the Spirit Tower to register, he was merely an ordinary person with no relatives. Even if someone murdered him, it would only be treated as a local public-security case. The magistrate might go through the motions perfunctorily and close the case.

Once he registered with the Spirit Tower, the nature of things would be different.

The Seven Towers Federation was a paradise for Arcane Mages. Anyone who dared murder an Arcane Mage or Spiritual Apprentice would be deemed to have provoked the Seven Towers Federation, and the matter would absolutely be investigated to the end.

Of course.

Nothing was absolute. True safety still had to depend on oneself.

When he returned to the rented house and looked at its only two rooms, with leaks still breaking through the roof, he no longer wanted to stay there. "It's time to find somewhere else to live."

Snakehead Town was laid out with four main streets—two horizontal and two vertical—dividing the town into a nine-square grid.

The very central area was naturally the best in terms of safety, surroundings, and convenience. It was also built atop a place rich in Spirituality, making it most suitable for spiritual-sea cultivation. However, the rent was exorbitant, and Duke couldn't afford it for the time being.

He wanted to find a house on the edge of Second Vertical Street.

Little Sam's Card Shop was located at Number 214, Second Vertical Street, so renting nearby would make commuting convenient.

He spent the entire afternoon looking for a house. In the end, he rented a two-story house with a courtyard in an alley off Second Vertical Street, with two rooms on each floor.

Two months' deposit and three months' rent in advance; the monthly rent was four and a half silver dragons.

Duke moved over his meager belongings, then went to a nearby arcane-artifact shop and bought a psionic water heater, installing it in the bathing stall of the house. He truly couldn't stand living without hot water for bathing, and this move was the perfect chance to solve the problem.

After finishing everything, he washed rice and started cooking.

Then Duke continued reading the books he had purchased, using his own eyes to provide Xiao Yi with more data. As a Ninth-Ring Arcane Artifact, Xiao Yi could do far too little without data. Only through constant nurturing could Xiao Yi display increasingly greater abilities and help him survive better in this world.

"Spirit Cards are a category."

"Any carrier capable of compressing a standard spell model—that is, one ring—inside itself while maintaining the complete operation of its energy circuits can be called a Spirit Card."

"A Spirit Card can be a card, a sphere, or even a soft, floppy mass of gel."

"However, Spirit Cards are usually fixed in a card-shaped structure. They are convenient to carry, easy to operate, simple to manufacture, and easy to repair, using the smallest volume to leverage the greatest energy."

As Duke read quickly, he also laid out the only three Spirit Cards he possessed on the table for comparison.

Spirit Dragon Card, Spirit Card, and Spirit Storage Card.

"Of these three Spirit Cards, the Spirit Dragon Card and Spirit Card are both single-sided cards, the simplest kind of Spirit Card. The Spirit Storage Card, meanwhile, is a three-dimensional card, a more complicated type." He glanced at the Spirit Cards and continued reading.

The Spirit Cards recorded in the book were broadly divided into several major categories: single-sided cards, double-sided cards, stacked cards, nested cards, bundled cards, irregular cards, and three-dimensional cards.

The common ones among them were single-sided cards, double-sided cards, and three-dimensional cards.

"Tomorrow I'll go back to work. I wonder if I'll be able to get the hang of it and repair a Spirit Card myself." Duke thought to himself.

He continued reading until late into the night, then extinguished the lamp and lay down to sleep, while Xiao Yi continued maintaining the operation of the Blank Paper Meditation within his spiritual sea.

The Free-floating Spirituality outside was drawn into his body bit by bit, finally gathering in his spiritual sea.

Originally, there had been only one drop of Spirit Liquid.

Now there were already twenty-eight drops of Spirit Liquid.

The Spirit Liquid surrounded Xiao Yi and the Desert Eagle, constantly leaping about in random patterns. Yet Duke could feel their intimacy with him; he could mobilize them with a single thought.

"Once the Spirit Liquid connects into an energy line, I'll advance to a Two-Star Apprentice."

However, condensing Spirit Liquid was not so easy. As the amount of Spirit Liquid in his spiritual sea increased, the efficiency of condensing it began to decline as well. This was because the Spirituality his body could accept was approaching saturation.

The spiritual sea was not a real sea, capable of containing an infinite amount of Spiritual Power.

The amount of Spirituality the spiritual sea could contain was closely tied to the body. Of course, this Spirituality would also subtly improve the body's constitution, prolong life, and dispel illnesses.

"Xiao Yi!"

"I'm here."

"What insights do you have on repairing Spirit Cards?"

"The key to repairing Spirit Cards is finding the weak points in the energy circuits, then reinforcing or clearing those weak points. In theory, Xiao Yi can already repair ordinary single-sided Spirit Cards."

"Not bad, not bad." Duke was in an excellent mood. "If you know how, then it's the same as me knowing how."

"That is indeed true in theory. However, Master, Xiao Yi cannot control your body, so you will still need to perform and practice the specific repair techniques yourself."