Three-star Spiritual Apprentice

The Black Beetle Car arrived at Snakehead Town, and Duke returned to Little Sam's Card Shop.

He didn't have any particular thoughts about the Pioneer War, which was already a certainty. Even if he did, it wouldn't matter; once the Pioneer War began, it would be like a torrent, and an individual's influence would be too small.

"Boss, the raw materials have increased in price, should we raise ours too?" Lisa asked.

"Keep an eye on Best's Card Repair Shop... Never mind, don't worry about Best's Card Repair Shop. Starting next month, we'll increase our prices according to the material cost increase," Duke said.

"Okay, boss."

When it was time for lunch, Card Master Dilanke suddenly found Duke. "Little Boss Duke, Sane asked me to ask if he can come back to Little Sam's Card Shop?"

"Sane?"

He was a previously hired Card Master for Little Sam's Card Shop, but Best had poached him.

Dilanke smiled and said, "It's Sane. He can barely stand it at Best's Card Repair Shop. He has no work, and he can't even get any commission."

"But with the Pioneer War coming, Best's Card Repair Shop shouldn't be lacking business, right?"

"They say it's coming, but it hasn't arrived yet. Sane probably doesn't want to wait any longer." Dilanke seemed to be in good spirits as he spoke. "No one would have thought that Little Sam's Card Shop would be doing better business under you than it did when Old Sam was here."

"Luck, just luck," Duke chuckled. "Then please, Teacher Dilanke, tell Teacher Sane that he's welcome back. Workstation number four is usually empty anyway."

"You're a kind boss, Little Duke."

"But I also hope that Teacher Dilanke can make it clear. I can give Teacher Sane one chance, but if there's a next time, I hope he won't bother me again."

"Haha, I think if there's a next time, he'll be too embarrassed himself."

And so, Card Master Sane returned to Little Sam's Card Shop, becoming the fourth hired Card Master. Recently, many mercenary groups had entered Snakehead Town, and the number of cards to be repaired was steadily increasing. With Sane's addition, it would help alleviate the staffing shortage.

"Did Best try to stop you?" Duke asked.

Sane shook his head. "No, in fact, another Card Master and I told Best we were leaving together. Best didn't stop us. From his perspective, he might be planning to change Best's Card Repair Shop into a small shop where he repairs cards himself."

Dilanke commented, "That's a good idea. Best only has a few acquaintances on the street. If he opens his own shop and repairs cards himself, his income should be enough to cover his family's expenses."

Duke didn't pay any further attention.

Best was already a figure of the past, not worth expending too much energy on.

He waited until the shop closed for the night and returned to his usual workstation, number four. He took out the 2-Ring Spirit Card he had salvaged from the Scrap Card Station yesterday – the Constant Temperature Card.

The Constant Temperature Card could create a constant temperature zone.

Paired with a box, it became an otherworldly version of a refrigerator. Of course, the Constant Temperature Card's effect wasn't limited to cooling; it could also heat.

Families with the means could use Constant Temperature Cards to create their ideal living environments.

In reality, Constant Temperature Cards were mostly used in spiritual plant agriculture, providing ideal growing conditions for spiritual plants. Only for high-value items like spiritual plants would someone be willing to spend a fortune to purchase a Constant Temperature Card.

He peeled off the damaged cover.

Placing it on the spirit card testing machine, he quickly detected the internal 2nd Ring spell model. It was a nested structure of two closed energy circuits, intertwined like a twisted rope, making it difficult for the naked eye to distinguish between them.

At least for Duke, the 2nd Ring spell model before him was a tangled mess.

"Xiao Yi, my eyes are a bit blurry."

"Master, please rest assured. Xiao Yi has already analyzed the two loops of the Constant Temperature Card and formulated a complete and feasible repair plan."

Taking a deep breath, Duke removed the Constant Temperature Card. "Then let's begin."

Repairing spirit cards was a task that required patience. The ring pulling device extracted the intricate 2-Ring from the card core. Under Xiao Yi's guidance, Duke began to mend the energy lines with his pen.

The Spirit Channeling Pen fused, and the Spirit Cutting Knife polished.

What seemed like a chaotic repair job proceeded in an orderly fashion under Xiao Yi's guidance. Duke acted as a tool while constantly inquiring about the principles behind each step.

It was both work and study.

As the repair progressed, countless short circuits on the energy lines were successfully fused, and Spiritual Power surged through the repaired energy lines.

Duke's Spirit Sea also changed unknowingly.

What was originally a straight energy line began to tremble, extending outwards from both ends, while also seeming to want to curve.

The curvature didn't form immediately.

But as time passed, and as Duke's understanding of energy lines, Spiritual Arcana, and Rings deepened during the repair process, a qualitative change finally occurred.

After countless tremors, the energy line finally bent into a small arc.

With the birth of this small arc, Duke seemed to enter a profound state, losing all perception of his surroundings and immersing himself entirely in the 2nd Ring spell model of the Constant Temperature Card.

He didn't realize.

When he wielded the Spirit Channeling Pen to cast, his Spiritual Power became even more effortless.

Where he previously needed to adjust the pen tip's angle to fuse broken energy lines, he could now, through subtle control of Spiritual Power, draw a continuous line, completing the entire fusion process without changing his posture. The Spirit Cutting Knife also danced in his hand like an artist.

He was like a seasoned master craftsman, immersed in the art of card repair for decades, completing the card repair process like polishing a work of art.

At this moment, the curved energy line in his Spirit Sea also followed his operations in repairing the spirit card, bending, extending, and shortening from time to time.

This energy line, representing his understanding of Spiritual Arcana, was like a nimble little snake.

An unknown amount of time passed.

The repair work in his hands was complete. The 2nd Ring spell model, pulled out by the ring pulling device, flowed with a soft glow, like a piece of exquisite porcelain.

"Ah!" Duke snapped back to reality.

Xiao Yi's feedback came in a timely manner: "Congratulations to the master for achieving the Twisting and Winding level of energy lines, officially advancing to Three-star Spiritual Apprentice."

One-star: Gathering Qi into Liquid, Two-star: Condensing Liquid into Line, Three-star: Twisting and Winding.

Originally, Xiao Yi's progress report showed he was still over two hundred days away from advancing, but he had directly advanced after a moment of enlightenment while repairing a 2-Ring Spirit Card.

"Three-star Spiritual Apprentice... So my aptitude isn't that bad after all. Even a genius Arcane Mage wouldn't train much faster than this."

Duke smiled slightly, looking forward to the future even more.

He controlled the ring pulling device, compressing the repaired 2nd Ring spell model back into the card core, then mended the card material and wrapped it in a cover.

Thus, a refurbished 2-Ring civilian spirit card—a Constant Temperature Card—was successfully repaired.

"Double happiness!"