Reinforcement Specialist

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

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

The boy, meanwhile, wore a cheap gray tracksuit. But Lin Xia caught sight of the famous-brand watch peeking from his wrist and realized that he was no ordinary person.

"Oh my god, why is he here?!"

The short-haired young man's mouth fell open in an O, his face full of shock and bewilderment.

"Hey, do you know them?"

Lin Xia walked over and asked quietly.

He had a feeling the two men were no ordinary people, which was why he was so curious.

"Of course!" The short-haired young man puffed out his chest for no reason, proudly shaking his head. "You should see the kind of company I keep!

"That middle-aged man is Sun Qi, a famous reinforcement specialist in this city!"

"Reinforcement specialist?"

Lin Xia frowned. "Do you mean that literally?"

"Exactly!" The young man seemed to be mocking Lin Xia for being so ignorant. He patted him on the shoulder. "There are experts in every trade. These days, a lot of the Gold Cards on the market are Mr. Sun's work!"

"Oh..."

Lin Xia nodded. He knew that cards changed color with each reinforcement stage. Cards at Reinforcement Levels 1–4 were bronze, those at Levels 5–7 were silver, those at Levels 8–10 were gold, and those at Levels 11–13 were a dazzling diamond color.

The Gold Cards the short-haired young man was talking about were cards reinforced from Level 7 to Level 8.

What Lin Xia couldn't understand was how reinforcement specialists could guarantee a card's successful reinforcement.

Could they also see the points at which a card's reinforcement would succeed?

"Hey, hey, I'm not done introducing them." Seeing Lin Xia lost in thought, the short-haired young man tapped him and continued, "That boy's the impressive one. I saw him once when I was on a team expedition outside the city. You've heard of the Blue Eagle Guild, ranked third in the Great Xia Empire, right?

"He's Yang Ming, the guild leader's young master!"

"The Blue Eagle Guild..."

Lin Xia murmured.

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

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

That was because, out of the entire Great Xia Empire, the Blue Eagle Guild had the largest and most diverse stockpile of Material Cards. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they had more than they could ever use!

And in this world, Material Cards were as rare as gold, hence the nickname.

That was also why Lin Xia had looked into the Blue Eagle Guild. After all, he needed a lot of Material Cards to reinforce his own cards.

"Strange. The Blue Eagle Guild's headquarters is a long way from this city. Normally, no one would come all the way here, let alone the guild leader's young master..."

The short-haired young man continued speaking to himself.

At that, Lin Xia fell silent and focused his attention on Sun Qi and Yang Ming.

"Sir, as long as you successfully reinforce my Main Card, I'll transfer three million to your account right away."

Yang Ming spoke slowly, but the slight rubbing of his right thumb and forefinger betrayed how eager he was.

Silver light began to gather in his palm. The next second, a silver card with an OVR Value of 102 appeared. It was a Top 7 Card.

"Mr. Wang Meng, I think you've misunderstood something."

Sun Qi gave a cold laugh. "When you hire a reinforcement specialist, you always pay upfront. Transfer the money first, and then I can start working."

Yang Ming showed no change in expression. He simply nodded to show that he agreed.

As for Wang Meng, that was a name he'd made up to conceal his identity.

Yang Ming had come all this way to this city to get out of his father's sight.

As an SSR-level Awakener, the Main Card of the same rank in his possession could be said to represent the future of the entire guild.

That was why Yang Ming's father had refused to let him reinforce the card any further. Instead, he wanted him to wait until they found a Reinforce Protection Ticket before attempting to turn it into a Gold Card.

A Reinforce Protection Ticket was an important item that could keep a Main Card from vanishing if its reinforcement failed. It could only be obtained, with a very small chance, in diamond-level or higher secret realms.

Who knew how long it would take to find one?

Impatient, Yang Ming had sought out Sun Qi, who claimed to be a reinforcement specialist, to help him turn his Main Card into a Gold Card.

When Yang Ming first heard that Sun Qi only wanted three million for the job, he was thrilled.

To him, that amount was nothing.

The Blue Eagle Guild might officially be a guild, but if you converted all the Material Cards it controlled into money, it would rank among the richest powers in the Great Xia Empire!

"Ding, three million yuan received..."

When Sun Qi saw the notification pop up on his panel, a triumphant smile tugged at his lips.

He swept an arm through the air and put the panel away. Then he turned to Lin Xia before looking at the Reinforcement Pillar. He cleared his throat. "That kid just succeeded in reinforcing a card, so the Reinforcement Pillar's success point has been reset. Do you have enough Material Cards with you? Your Main Card is a high-grade SSR Card, so we'll need to spend a long time using buffer cards and blowing up cards to find the point where it'll succeed. Let me make this clear: if you don't have enough Buffer Cards and your Main Card fails, that's not my fault!"

Sun Qi deliberately emphasized his final words.

He wasn't exactly a con artist. After all, he had successfully reinforced a few Gold Cards.

But who in the world could claim they had a 100% success rate?

So-called reinforcement specialists were simply Awakeners with years of experience.

They usually studied the patterns behind other Awakeners' successful reinforcements, then used a kind of "copying someone else's homework" approach to improve their own odds.

For instance, the last time Sun Qi successfully reinforced a Gold Card for a rich young master, he'd used the pattern "18 consecutive explosions, then the first card turns gold." He'd observed that success point while watching the Reinforcement Pillar.

This time, he planned to use the same trick: wait until eighteen Buffer Cards had exploded in a row, then use the Main Card.

"Yeah. I've got enough Material Cards and Buffer Cards."

Yang Ming's voice was cool, as if he were talking about something utterly unimportant.

His words made a gleam flash in the greedy Sun Qi's eyes. It seemed to give him an idea.

The short-haired young man and his friend were also stunned by Yang Ming's generosity.

For Awakeners, Material Cards and Buffer Cards were precious things.

Yet Yang Ming had said so casually that he had more than enough. That was pure flexing!

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

He was suspicious of the reinforcement specialist called Sun Qi.

The man looked shifty and untrustworthy.

Besides that, Lin Xia was thinking about something else.

Could he make a living as a reinforcement specialist?