Bronze Tier 5, Heading to the Black Market

Mystic energy surged forth.

This feedback was immense, forming a vast, majestic torrent within his mindscape.

Su Li sat down cross-legged, vibrating his Spirit Jade as he absorbed the energy with all his might.

Previously, the silver coverage on Su Li's Spirit Jade had already reached 37%.

As Su Li absorbed it, the silver coverage began to rise.

Thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three!

Bronze Tier Five!

Su Li let out a heavy breath, directly crossing a new minor threshold as his Spirit Jade advanced to Bronze Tier Five.

The gains were substantial. Both his cards and his own rank had made major breakthroughs.

However, there was still a long way to go. Several magic cards still needed to be upgraded, which would require a large number of cards.

Including the time he had spent absorbing the mystic energy, eight days had passed since his battle with Bai Moxue. He picked up his phone to catch up on current events.

First, he checked the rankings.

① Jiang Mingyue, Bronze Tier Seven, 65%.

② Bai Moxue, Bronze Tier Five, 49%.

③ Wang Shiyu, Bronze Tier Five, 45%.

④ Dongfang Mingyuan, Bronze Tier Five, 43%.

⑤ Lu Chenfeng, Bronze Tier Five, 41%.

Jiang Mingyue had been updating her progress quite frequently lately. She really did have the protagonist template—her improvement was incredibly fast.

Bai Moxue probably hadn't updated, or she was stuck before a minor threshold. She was just one step away from Bronze Tier Six.

Wang Shiyu's progress had shot up quickly. As expected of a young master from a financial conglomerate. He had probably been provoked by Su Li and started putting in real effort.

Lu Chenfeng hadn't updated his status and had fallen to fifth place.

Although he had spent a long time in Grantis's card world this time, Su Li had not fallen behind. After all, he had cheats—he could strengthen cards and raise his rank at the same time.

He continued browsing the posts.

Su Li found that his battle with Bai Moxue was still generating some buzz. In particular, the posts from that day had seen extremely heated discussion.

Quite a few things had happened over the past few days.

A few days ago, the rankings for the first month had concluded. Jiang Mingyue took first place without any suspense, Bai Moxue came second, and Wang Shiyu had risen to third.

The three of them drew cards and revealed their results to encourage the card masters of Third High School.

Jiang Mingyue drew another Silver card, this one Silver Tier Five, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

Bai Moxue drew a Silver Tier Three card. Her luck was excellent.

Wang Shiyu was terribly unlucky. The lowest rank in the card pool was Bronze Tier Three, yet that was exactly what he drew.

Afterward, Jiang Mingyue brought her cards into the Forest of Blood. It was said that a world-shaking battle had erupted deep within the forest.

The blonde girl returned injured, still unable to conquer the place.

This stirred up some discussion.

"It's so difficult. This place was clearly prepared for the top card masters. We ordinary card masters won't even get a sip of the soup," a commoner card master complained.

Su Li was very interested in this. He intended to visit the Forest of Blood. It would surely produce a high-tier domain card, perhaps one that could serve as Grantis's domain field.

However, his defensive measures were still inadequate. All this time, he had relied on offense in place of defense.

As his Spirit Jade rank increased, battles were becoming more and more unpredictable. Su Miaohan, Grantis, and Su Xiaobai alone were far from enough.

He needed more cards.

Su Li had originally planned to take Grantis and Su Miaohan to White Fox's card world, to try and let it bathe in the radiance of the ancient fox clan formation and undergo its coming-of-age ceremony.

But more and more card masters were entering the Forest of Blood. It might be conquered very soon.

He had to contend for this domain card.

He opened his phone and sent Lu Chenfeng a message. "You there?"

The man quickly replied, "I am, Brother Li. Are you heading to the black market? I happen to be free."

Su Li thanked him. "Yes. Sorry to trouble you."

The two met at the entrance to Third High School.

Lu Chenfeng was as suave as ever. When he saw Su Li, he smiled, waved his Card Master certificate, and said:

"I spent quite a bit of time these past few days, but I finally passed my certification as a card enhancement specialist."

Su Li was slightly surprised. This man truly was a top genius, developing in multiple areas.

"Congratulations." He smiled.

The two immediately headed to the black market.

"Enhancers are everywhere in the black market. Of course, it doesn't only deal in card enhancement—there are plenty of other things there as well.

You can buy all kinds of cards there, and rare cards even turn up from time to time.

Don't be fooled by the massive businesses run by those card conglomerates on the market. Most of what they sell are common cards; rare cards are usually reserved for auctions.

For us Card Masters, that's simply a waste of time." Lu Chenfeng gave Su Li a brief introduction.

Su Li pondered it. Indeed, he had not seen any particularly appealing cards in Many Cards' marketplace at the time. They had all been exceedingly ordinary.

"Those conglomerates are really no different from the authorities. They skim off huge transaction fees to make a profit.

They may even be worse than the authorities. With the other dimensions constantly invading, the Card Master Alliance has deliberately nurtured powerful Card Masters and continuously invested resources into supporting them over the years.

But the black market is different. There, Card Masters trade directly with one another." Lu Chenfeng was eager to befriend Su Li and spoke with great enthusiasm.

"Doesn't the Alliance crack down on these black markets?" Su Li asked doubtfully.

"How would they crack down?" Lu Chenfeng laughed. "Card Masters are poor as dirt. As long as there's profit to be made, they'll swarm in.

All they can do is turn a blind eye. Push them too hard, and even more evil Card Masters will emerge.

In fact, the authorities, the conglomerates, and the major factions all conduct some of their transactions in the black market."

Su Li fell silent. That was true. Card Masters were all desperately poor, while their demand for cards was endless.

Lu Chenfeng paused before continuing, "Still, even if the authorities tolerate the existence of black markets, they won't neglect to keep them under control. Every now and then, they conduct a major purge to intimidate these black markets.

If a black market exists for too long, it will inevitably end up completely controlled by certain Card Masters or factions. That is something the authorities do not wish to see."

Lu Chenfeng drew a card and summoned a carriage pulled by a white winged pegasus. The two headed toward the remote outskirts of Cool City.

"Cool City's black market has only just gone through a major purge by the Card Master Alliance. One faction crossed the line." Lu Chenfeng chuckled. "That was Wang Shiyu's backing.

Wang Shiyu's family was badly hit this time. Those lunatics—despite so much time having passed, some people still dared to make little moves right under the Card Master Alliance's nose."

Su Li smiled. That man had insisted on opposing him and now seemed to have run into some bad luck. That was a good thing.

The population gradually thinned out. They even passed through areas that had once been contaminated by other dimensions. The carriage took sharp turns at high speed, leaving them dizzy.

"The black market's location is fairly well concealed, but anyone with sufficient strength or status generally knows where it is.

The black market has its own rules. It is effectively a lawless zone, yet it still follows certain unspoken rules," Lu Chenfeng explained.

The two turned into a street that grew increasingly dark. At its far end was a pitch-black hollow that radiated an ominous aura.