In less than three minutes, a One-Star Blank Energy Card took shape beneath Tang Jian's hands.
This time, crafting the card consumed far less card energy and mental strength as well.
Tang Jian let out a breath and focused on his Attribute Template.
He had 5 points of card energy remaining and 1 point of mental strength.
He vaguely felt a headache again.
"Mental strength can't be depleted like this too often, or it'll cause mental damage that's very difficult to heal."
The thought flashed through Tang Jian's mind, and he temporarily gave up on continuing to craft One-Star Blank Energy Cards.
When card energy dropped to its lowest point, his body would feel weak. If he overdrawn it too often, it could damage his physical vitality.
Mental strength was the same, and once mental strength was damaged, it was even harder to recover than physical vitality.
Next, Tang Jian seized the time to cultivate the Three-Point-One-Line Technique.
Cultivating within the range of the metal semicircular card also spared him the trouble of being disturbed.
Tang Jian cultivated for two full hours.
His card energy recovered to its peak, and his mental strength recovered by one point as well.
He immediately began crafting a One-Star Energy Card again.
After making this second One-Star Blank Energy Card, Tang Jian felt a stabbing pain in his head, more intense than before.
Although his remaining mental strength still showed 1 point, his condition was certainly worse than it had been previously.
"That's enough for today."
Tang Jian put away the two One-Star Blank Energy Cards and let out a long breath.
If Instructor Sun Yiying learned that he could craft a One-Star Blank Energy Card in just three minutes, she would definitely focus on training him.
There was no doubt about that.
Because throughout the entire grade, there were only a little over twenty students who could successfully craft a One-Star Blank Card in one go, the same number as those who had reached the level of a Two-Star Card Disciple.
Tang Jian had once considered drawing Sun Yiying's attention and receiving his instructor's training.
Geniuses did not emerge by keeping a low profile. They had to stand out and draw attention in order to compete for more resources.
However, standing out did not mean foolishly showing off without restraint.
Tang Jian also knew that his card-crafting talent had appeared quite ordinary in the past. If he suddenly displayed exceptional ability, it would certainly arouse suspicion.
But now, he had bought a batch of Blank Cards and spent his time immersed in the Card Crafting Room, practicing with full focus. With such diligence, it was understandable for his card-crafting ability to improve dramatically.
In fact, Tang Jian had indeed caught the attention of some people.
When Shi Lei and several classmates left the Card Crafting Room midway through, they all glanced toward where he was. Seeing that he had not emerged from behind closed doors, they were all quite surprised.
"Why's that bastard working so hard now? You can't brute-force card crafting. I've only made two-thirds of a card after keeping at it this long, and my head already hurts," said the refined-looking Xu Le.
"Maybe he's tired and sleeping with his head on the desk. Let's go first," Shi Lei said, his eyes flickering.
There were indeed students who had given up on themselves. Under the pretense of practicing card crafting, they would raise the metal semicircular card inside the Card Crafting Room to hide themselves, then secretly put their heads down on the desk and sleep.
If this had happened before, patrolling teachers would have sternly stopped them.
But now that the college entrance examination was near, studying depended on personal discipline. Anyone who could still give up on themselves at such a time was beyond saving.
Tang Jian, whom some people considered to have given up on himself, was currently continuing to cultivate the Three-Point-One-Line Technique inside the metal hemisphere, restoring his condition.
It was not until lunchtime that Tang Jian lowered the metal hemisphere and left the Card Crafting Room.
That afternoon, he returned to the Card Crafting Room to cultivate again. He spent the entire afternoon cultivating the technique, and by dinnertime, his card energy had long since recovered to its peak while his mental strength had recovered to 3 points.
This condition was basically considered peak condition, enough for him to continue crafting cards.
However, Tang Jian had no plans to craft cards. Instead, he wanted to wait until his mental strength had fully recovered, then use the two One-Star Blank Energy Cards in his hand to see whether he could raise the upper limit of his mental strength.
Leaving the Card Crafting Room, Tang Jian, like many other senior-year students, hurried out through the school gates and headed straight for the various dinner stalls and small restaurants outside.
Xicheng No. 1 High School did not provide dinner at night, so students had to handle their own evening meals.
Many students had their parents bring them hearty dinners.
But Tang Jian naturally did not receive such treatment. His father, Tang Lin, was too busy, and his mother had no transportation, so it was troublesome for her to come all the way to school. Buying food was the most convenient option.
Tang Jian usually left school with Yang Mao to eat together, but Yang Mao was training his card energy while Tang Jian was practicing card crafting, so the two could no longer arrange to go together.
Tang Jian calculated the money in his pocket as he walked toward the wooden bucket rice restaurant across from the school with his backpack on.
The moment he headed toward the wooden bucket rice restaurant, three young thugs squatting in a corner by the street and smoking fixed their eyes on him.
Not far from him, Xie Dong gave the three thugs a meaningful look from afar.
The three thugs immediately understood. They made a gesture, rose to their feet, tossed away their cigarette butts, and headed together toward the wooden bucket rice restaurant.
All three thugs had tattoos on their arms, earrings in their ears, and faces that screamed, "I'm tough."
As they walked along, quite a few students hurriedly moved aside with flickering eyes, not daring to provoke people like them.
Before Tang Jian even entered the restaurant, he sensed that something was wrong. Turning his head, he saw the strange smiles on the three thugs' faces as they directly surrounded him.
There had originally been two people near him, but when they saw this, they hurriedly fled in fright.
The restaurant owner looked at the situation outside from within the doorway, frowned, but said nothing.
"Kid, come on. The brothers have something to say to you."
One of the thugs stepped forward, hooked an arm around Tang Jian's neck, and said with a false smile.
"Let's go. Be good—we're easy to talk to," the other two said with mocking smiles as they flanked him on either side.
This scene made quite a few high school students in the restaurant go pale. Some were indignant but did not dare step forward, while others looked wary and pretended not to see anything.
Tang Jian's expression, however, remained calm. He frowned and glanced at the thug with his arm around him. "Let's go. There really are too many people here. Whatever you want to say, let's find somewhere without anyone around."
The three thugs were all stunned, staring blankly at Tang Jian. They had not expected him to say that.
Was this for real?
He was being this cooperative?
"Good. Very good. You know what's good for you. Let's go." The thug came to his senses, grinned, and led Tang Jian toward a nearby alley.
Tang Jian chuckled inwardly, but his face remained impassive as he followed the three men away.
Seeing him being led away, Xie Dong, who had been watching from afar, immediately beamed with delight.
He had not heard what Tang Jian said. Seeing this, he only assumed that the matter was already half done.
"Great! If that kid has quite a few Blank Cards on him, we'll strike it rich. But Lin Qiong has dirty hands and likes men. That kid looks decent—he'd better not get ruined and make a big mess of things."
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