[Demon Beast]! The First Demon-Series Card!

No sooner said than done, Gu Xin began considering the combination of materials.

"[Silver Demon] and [Dark Element] are a must. Then..."

Gu Xin was extremely serious and cautious about his first demon card.

Moreover, he had no choice but to be cautious. Most demon-series monsters resided in the Abyss and were rarely seen in the main world.

Even in secret realms, the chances of encountering demon-series monsters were very low. Demon corpses were priceless and virtually impossible to find on the market.

Even if he wanted to buy them, he would not know where to look.

There was truly no room for error. If he failed this time, who knew when he would next obtain demon materials?

Gu Xin took a deep breath and retrieved the black glove he had obtained from the royal treasury, his eyes flickering constantly.

"The dark aura in this thing is extremely pure and dense, but I still don't know what it is."

Gu Xin hesitated deeply, torn over whether to add the black glove.

There was no doubt that this glove possessed the darkness attribute, yet Gu Xin did not know its exact function or grade.

But judging by its incomparably pure dark aura, it was at least a Tier 2 item, perhaps even a Tier 3 treasure.

If so, successfully crafting the card might even raise its grade.

As for adding a [Holy Griffin Feather]... Gu Xin felt that would be far too difficult.

His current card-maker level was not enough to support merging the utterly opposing attributes of light and darkness.

"Forget it. Something of unknown origin isn't reliable."

After considering it again and again, Gu Xin decided to give up on it. After all, he had no idea what the black glove actually did.

Adding it would greatly increase the difficulty of crafting the card. It was better to play it safe.

"Then I'll add a [Dark Emblem]."

Gu Xin took a strange black-and-red emblem down from the wall cabinet.

[Dark Emblem], a Tier 2 darkness-attribute item. It possessed illusion magic capable of bewitching people's hearts and could enhance affinity with the darkness attribute.

This was the best darkness-attribute treasure he had collected so far.

"Then I'll add a [Skeleton Guard Arm Bone]."

Gu Xin took out the [Skeleton Guard] he had obtained from the secret realm this time and prepared to tear off the skeleton's arm without the slightest hesitation.

The Skeleton Guard was a Tier 2 undead-series monster. Though it was not particularly strong, it was still Tier 2, and he only needed it as a supplementary material anyway.

But after tugging for quite some time, Gu Xin found that he could not pull it off. The Skeleton Guard's bones were of rather high quality.

"Big brother, dismantle it into six pieces for me!"

Gu Xin laughed in exasperation and summoned [Macho Goblin], directly giving the order.

"Ge!!"

Macho Goblin displayed its formidable physical strength. With brute force, it cleanly and efficiently dismembered the Skeleton Guard.

Its two arms, two legs, head, and body were all separated.

Gu Xin was very satisfied at the sight. As expected, Macho Goblin was made for this kind of dirty work. It did not hesitate at all.

"All right, go play for a while. Don't disturb me next, or you'll regret it."

In light of Macho Goblin's contribution, Gu Xin waved it away to play on its own, while also giving it a warning.

At his words, Macho Goblin broke out in a cold sweat and ran off without delay.

Gu Xin picked up the Skeleton Guard's skeletal arm and tossed it into the furnace. It was quite heavy.

[Silver Demon] + [Dark Element] + [Dark Emblem] + [Skeleton Arm Bone]

"Let it succeed in one go!"

Gu Xin drank a bottle of magic potion. After waiting for his magic power to fully recover, he licked his lips, held his palm above the alchemy furnace, and released his magic power.

Furnace! Activate!

Beep beep beep!

This time, Gu Xin was especially cautious. He had to succeed in one attempt, because there was absolutely no room for error.

Whether his first demon-series card would succeed depended on this attempt.

Gu Xin's imagination surged in his mind. He already had a rough idea.

Time ticked away. Macho Goblin sat in the corner, watching its master. Above it was the freezer containing the cultist Ula.

Mm, it still could not forget Ula.

The laboratory was unusually quiet. Only occasional sounds came from the furnace. Soon, more than an hour had passed.

Finally, Gu Xin opened his eyes. There was a hint of exhaustion in them, but even more wild delight.

It worked!

A streak of golden light flashed from the furnace's card slot.

"Ha ha ha, I knew I could do it!"

Gu Xin picked up the magic card, still warm to the touch, and finally burst into laughter.

He had made a Demon series card!

Gu Xin looked at the card. Its illustration depicted a black, long-armed demon with a pair of enormous, tattered bat wings.

[Demon Beast]

[Category: Summoning Card]

[Quality: Two-Star Gold Card]

[Attribute: Darkness]

[Racial Trait: Dark Force Field]

[(Note: The power of darkness... will prevail!!)]

Absolutely excellent!

Gu Xin happily put away [Demon Beast]. Another Gold Card—his handcrafted cards really were top quality.

It was time to take a break and have dinner.

Gu Xin stretched deeply, washed his hands, and prepared to leave the laboratory.

But when he turned around, he discovered that at some point, Macho Goblin had taken down the freezer containing the cultist and was staring at the cultist inside while drooling.

Gu Xin's mouth twitched.

"You're seriously fucking insane."

Gu Xin truly couldn't take it anymore and hurriedly recalled the outrageous thing into its card.

It had been one thing when Ula was still alive, but now Ula was probably frozen stiff all over, and this thing could still react to him? I'd eat a person if that were human!

Oh, right. He had nearly forgotten that Macho Goblin wasn't human in the first place.

As he walked out of the laboratory, he happened to find Toyokawa Shoko washing coffee cups.

"Boss, you're out." Toyokawa Shoko blinked her beautiful golden eyes. "Judging by your expression, you succeeded?"

"Ha ha, was it really that obvious?"

"Because I can tell that you're in a very good mood, Boss."

"Yes, I made an excellent card. I really am happy."

"Then congratulations, Boss. I knew it—you really are amazing."

The blue-haired girl's smile was beautiful, her crescent eyes exceptionally adorable and charming.

"Then please take a rest first. I'll prepare dinner for you."

"Thanks for your hard work, Shoko."

After only two days, Gu Xin felt that he needed to give this all-purpose employee a raise.

She really could do everything, and she gave him plenty of emotional support too. She even helped massage him.

After spending two days together, Gu Xin sincerely felt that Toyokawa Shoko was very charming.

Yet those two cultists, Asma and the other one, had locked such a girl in a cage like a dog and intended to sacrifice her to an evil god.

Fucking inhuman! They deserved to be refined by him!

Gu Xin cursed those two damned cultists inwardly, feeling that eliminating evil for the people was truly a boundless merit.