Reinforcer

The newcomers were a middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a handsome youth of seventeen or eighteen.

The middle-aged man was dressed quite strangely, wearing a deep red Taoist robe over a blue suit.

As for the youth, although he wore cheap gray sportswear, Lin Xia realized his status was extraordinary from the designer watch that accidentally peeked out from his wrist.

"My god, why is it him?!"

The short-haired youth's mouth formed an 'O' shape, his face a mix of shock and bewilderment.

"Brother, do you know them?"

Lin Xia walked over and asked in a low voice.

He had a feeling these two were of significant importance, which was why he was so curious.

"Of course!" The short-haired youth puffed out his chest for some reason and shook his head smugly. "Don't look down on my social circle! That man with the receding hairline is named Sun Qi, and he's a famous [Reinforcement Master] in this city!"

"Reinforcement Master?"

Lin Xia frowned. "Is that literal?"

"Exactly!" The youth seemed to mock Lin Xia for his lack of experience, patting him on the shoulder. "There are three hundred and sixty trades, and every one has its masters. Many of the [Gold Cards] on the market right now are masterpieces by Mr. Sun Qi!"

"Oh..."

Lin Xia nodded. He knew that for every reinforcement stage of a card, the color of the card face changed: +1 to +4 were bronze, +5 to +7 were silver, +8 to +10 were gold, and +11 to +13 were a dazzling diamond color.

The "Gold Cards" the short-haired youth spoke of referred to cards that had been upgraded from +7 to +8.

What Lin Xia couldn't understand, however, was how the profession of Reinforcement Master... ensured that a card reinforcement would succeed.

Could it be that they, too, could see the success nodes for card reinforcement?

"Hey, hey, hey, I haven't finished introducing them yet." Seeing Lin Xia lost in thought, the short-haired youth tapped him and continued: "That youth is the real deal. I saw him once when I was teaming up in the wild... You've heard of the [Blue Eagle Guild], the third-ranked guild in the Great Xia Empire, right? That's the young master of the guild—Yang Ming!"

"Blue Eagle Guild..."

Lin Xia murmured.

He didn't usually pay much attention to guilds, but he happened to have just researched the Blue Eagle Guild yesterday.

The Blue Eagle Guild was also known as the "Gold" Guild.

This was because, in the entire Great Xia Empire, only the Blue Eagle Guild possessed the largest and richest reserve of material cards—it was no exaggeration to say they were inexhaustible!

In this world, material cards were as rare as gold, which was how they earned that nickname.

It was precisely because of this that Lin Xia had been paying attention to the Blue Eagle Guild; after all, he desperately needed material cards to reinforce his own cards.

"Strange, the headquarters of the Blue Eagle Guild is very far from this city. Normally, no one from there would come here, let alone the young master of the guild..."

The short-haired youth muttered to himself.

Hearing this, Lin Xia didn't speak again, instead focusing his full attention on Sun Qi and Yang Ming.

"Sir, as long as the main card is successfully reinforced, 3 million will be transferred to your account immediately."

Yang Ming's tone was slow, but the small movement of his right thumb and index finger rubbing together betrayed his inner desire.

Then, silver light began to condense in his palm, and the next second, a [+7] silver card with an OVR of 102 appeared.

"Young Master Wang Meng, I think you've made a mistake."

Sun Qi sneered. "When hiring a Reinforcement Master, there is no such thing as pay-after-service. Transfer the money first, and then I can start working for you."

Upon hearing this, Yang Ming's expression didn't change; he simply nodded slightly in agreement.

As for Wang Meng, that was a name he had fabricated to hide his true identity.

Yang Ming had traveled thousands of miles to this city just to avoid his father's gaze.

As an SSR-level Awakened, the main card he held in his hand could be said to be the future of the entire guild.

Therefore, Yang Ming's father did not agree to him continuing to reinforce the card, insisting instead on waiting until a [Reinforcement Protection Coupon] could be farmed before attempting to upgrade the card to gold.

As an essential item that could prevent a card from dissipating if a reinforcement failed, the Reinforcement Protection Coupon was something that only had a minuscule drop rate in Secret Realms above the diamond level.

Waiting for one to drop would take an eternity.

Thus, the impatient Yang Ming had found Sun Qi, who claimed to be a Reinforcement Master, to help him upgrade his main card to gold.

When he first heard that Sun Qi only wanted a fee of 3 million, Yang Ming had been overjoyed.

This amount of money was mere pocket change to him.

The Blue Eagle Guild was a guild in name, but if the material cards they controlled were converted into money, they could easily be called the wealthiest power in the Great Xia Empire!

"Ding, 3 million has been deposited into your account..."

Seeing the message pop up on his panel, a smug smile appeared on the corner of Sun Qi's mouth.

He waved his arm, closed the panel, turned to look at Lin Xia, and then stared at the Reinforcement Pillar, clearing his throat. "Since this kid just succeeded, he's refreshed the success node of the Reinforcement Pillar. Do you have enough material cards on you? Since your main card is a high-grade SSR, it will take a long time of using fodder cards and blowing them up to find the success node... Let's get this straight: if you don't have enough fodder cards and the main card fails, that's not my problem!"

Sun Qi deliberately emphasized his tone when he said the last sentence.

He could hardly be called a charlatan, as he had indeed successfully reinforced a few Gold Cards.

But in this world, who would dare claim they could guarantee a 100% success rate for reinforcement?

So-called Reinforcement Masters were merely Awakened individuals with seasoned experience.

They typically summarized and analyzed the patterns from other Awakeneds' successful reinforcements, using a "copycat" method to increase their own odds of success.

For instance, the last time Sun Qi successfully reinforced a Gold Card for a wealthy young master, the pattern he applied was [18 consecutive failures leading to a success]—a specific window he had observed while lingering by the Reinforcement Pillar.

This time, he intended to repeat the same trick, waiting for the fodder cards to fail 18 times in a row before committing the main card.

"Mm, as for the material cards and fodder cards, I have more than enough."

Yang Ming's tone was cold, as if he were speaking of something entirely trivial.

That sentence caused a glint to flash in the greedy Sun Qi's eyes, as if some malicious intent had taken root.

The short-haired youth and his companion were also stunned by Yang Ming's extravagance.

For the Awakened, material cards and fodder cards were incredibly precious commodities.

Yet Yang Ming could say he had enough of them so nonchalantly... this was pure, unadulterated flexing!

Lin Xia, meanwhile, pressed his lips into a thin line, his expression serious and thoughtful.

He harbored deep suspicions toward this Reinforcement Master named Sun Qi.

After all, with that shifty-eyed look of his, the man didn't seem reliable in the slightest.

Beyond that, Lin Xia was pondering another question.

Could he perhaps make a living as a Reinforcement Master himself?