Private Message

"Buffer cards don't just mean blowing up random cards."

Sun Qi lifted his chin, wearing a condescending expression. "Take your Main Card, which is going from +7 to +8, for example. The buffer cards required must also be +7 cards. I need to blow these up to deduce the success node, so... did you prepare them in advance?"

"Yeah."

Yang Ming knew these basics of card buffering, so with a wave of his hand and a "clattering" sound, a row of silver cards resembling a star chain appeared before him.

Lin Xia noticed that these cards were indeed all +7.

However, their OVR values were extremely low.

Lin Xia counted them; among the 15 cards, the highest OVR was only 52.

A +7 card with only a 52 rating... it could be called "trash" without exaggeration; it couldn't even be used on the battlefield.

"Is this enough?" Yang Ming glanced at Sun Qi from the corner of his eye, speaking in an indifferent tone. "If not, I have more."

Without further ado, he summoned another 15 cards, arranging them neatly above the first row.

Such a lavish display made it impossible for Sun Qi to hide the joy in his eyes any longer; he realized that the person before him was truly a "pig" ready for slaughter!

His temperament is still that of a child, after all.

Lin Xia shook his head helplessly.

Through Yang Ming's plain attire and his attempt to use a fake name, he could tell this person wanted to keep a low profile and hide his identity.

Yet, he had just exposed his "wealthy" background... wasn't that contradictory?

Moreover, Lin Xia had also noticed Sun Qi's greedy gaze.

This only deepened his suspicions regarding this Reinforcement Specialist.

"Since Young Master Wang is so well-prepared, I shall begin."

After saying this, Sun Qi picked up a card and placed it into the Reinforcement Pillar's mechanism.

The next second, he initiated the reinforcement process.

"Whoosh—!"

The card was enveloped in a ghostly light, beginning to tremble violently.

"Swish~~!"

The ghostly light dimmed rapidly like a deflating balloon, and immediately after, the card inside the device turned into black smoke, dissipating in all directions.

Just like that, in a mere few seconds, a +7 silver card vanished from the world.

Yang Ming did not show the slightest hint of heartache.

Sun Qi's expression remained unchanged as well; for him, this was only the beginning, as he had to achieve an 18-card streak of failures!

The next moment, another card turned into a wisp of black smoke, gently scattered by the breeze.

Following that, the third and fourth cards were destroyed in succession.

But when it came to the fifth card, a golden stream of light flashed across its surface.

Success!

This Gold Card had been successfully reinforced!

However, Sun Qi revealed a look of disappointment. He first took the Gold Card out of the device, then tossed it into the air to the side as if it were something insignificant.

He immediately picked up another silver card and placed it into the device. "It's fine, let's continue. If a buffer card succeeds, it succeeds. It's no loss anyway; after all, it's a Gold Card that can be sold on the market."

"Mm."

Yang Ming nodded. He knew that during the buffering stage, such things were unavoidable.

After all, no Reinforcement Specialist could guarantee they could precisely pinpoint the success node.

They were not gods; they could misjudge the success node, leading to the failure of the Main Card's reinforcement.

But they were still far better than an ordinary Awakener.

After all, professional matters should be left to professionals.

This was the reason Yang Ming sought out a Reinforcement Specialist.

The success rate of a Reinforcement Specialist was far higher than his own.

If even a Reinforcement Specialist failed the reinforcement, then he would certainly fail as well.

On the other side, Lin Xia sneered. The successful reinforcement of this buffer Gold Card confirmed to him that Sun Qi could not see the reinforcement nodes.

Thus, he planned to use his one remaining [Eye of Insight] to hijack the opportunity from this young guild leader of the [Gold Guild]!

He had been worrying about where to find a material card with a 94 rating to reinforce Vegeta.

What if this young guild leader was in a good mood and rewarded it to him?

Even if Yang Ming was a miser and didn't reward him with a material card this time, it wouldn't matter.

At the very least, he could make a friend through this incident.

And such connections would surely be able to help him in the future!

Action speaks louder than words!

Facing an opportunity that was too good to miss, Lin Xia immediately activated his Eye of Insight.

As a stream of light flashed across his pupils, the gray question marks dispersed and reorganized in the next second, and the number [3] appeared beside the Reinforcement Pillar.

This meant that counting from the Gold Card he had just successfully reinforced, he only needed to blow up two more Buffer Cards before he could safely reinforce his Main Card!

Coincidentally, at this very moment, Sun Qi had already blown up his second Buffer Card and was about to place the third one into the device.

"Wait a second!"

At Lin Xia's shout, Sun Qi's hand froze in mid-air.

He and Yang Ming turned around simultaneously, casting looks of hesitation and vigilance.

"I think it's going to succeed."

"Succeed" referred to a successful card reinforcement.

Lin Xia felt a bit awkward. He had seen Sun Qi about to insert the Buffer Card and stopped him in a hurry, but he hadn't figured out how to explain it in a way that would make Yang Ming believe him.

He couldn't exactly expose his ability to see reinforcement nodes, could he?

"...Uh."

Yang Ming's gaze shifted back and forth between Lin Xia and Sun Qi, finally settling on the latter as if he had made his choice.

In his eyes, Lin Xia was just a "kid" about his own age with zero prestige or track record in the reinforcement world; no one would believe him, right?

"Heh."

Sun Qi looked down at Lin Xia, responding with a cold sneer.

His mind flashed back to the image of Lin Xia only managing to reinforce a +2 card earlier... combined with Lin Xia's cheap attire, Sun Qi felt that even interacting with this brat would be beneath him.

But ginger is still spicier when it's old; although Sun Qi looked down on Lin Xia, he still analyzed his words.

First, when reinforcing cards, a success within ten consecutive failures is called [Short-Hand].

Anything beyond ten consecutive failures is called [Long-Hand].

For instance, the Buffer Card that succeeded on the fifth attempt earlier was a Short-Hand reinforcement mechanism.

Generally speaking, the probability of a Short-Hand success is very low, so a Short-Hand is usually followed by a Long-Hand.

Thinking this way, Sun Qi became even more convinced that the success would come after 18 consecutive failures.

Of course, he was also more certain that Lin Xia was just "talking nonsense."

With a huff, he turned back around, intending to continue.

But Lin Xia could not afford to miss this chance for a successful reinforcement.

After all, he had no more uses of the Eye of Insight left; once he lost this guaranteed node, who knew how many failures it would take to reach the next success node?

Meanwhile.

"Looks like I can make some extra cash."

The short-haired youth watching from the sidelines opened his panel under his companion's gaze and sent a private message to the guild leader of the Blue Eagle Guild.

[The Young Guild Leader is here, it seems he is about to reinforce his Main Card...]